Dudley takes lead over Oliver for Oak Harbor City Council seat

Scott Dudley appears to be on his way to winning a seat on the Oak Harbor City Council, while Tom Tack leads in the only contested seat for the Coupeville Town Council.

After the first ballot count Tuesday night, Dudley had a decisive lead over challenger Gerry Oliver for the seat being vacated by Councilman Eric Gerber. Dudley won 1,264 votes while Oliver had 1,050.

In Coupeville, Tack was ahead of candidate Sue Cunningham for the seat being vacated by Councilman Jim Phay. Tack earned 248 ballots cast in his favor while Cunningham had 197.

The race for position three on the North Whidbey Fire and Rescue commission is a close one. Two-term incumbent Larry Morse is ahead of challenger Jerry Goen by just over 1 percent. Morse has 1,552 votes and Goen has 1,514.

It looks like voters in both Island and Snohomish counties approved an increase in the property tax levy rate to fund the Sno-Isle Library District. The numbers are close in Island County, with 8,840 people voting in favor and 8,714 voting to reject.

In Snohomish County, an early count showed that 36,893 people voted to approve the measure and 34,961 voted to reject it.

Voters in Island County appeared to have mirrored state results on two statewide measures. County voters rejected Initiative 1033, the Tim Eyman-sponsored measure that would have limited state, county and city revenue increases. A total of 9,402 county voters rejected it while 8,619 voted in support.

In addition, a majority of county voters were in favor of Referendum 71, which concerned the rights of domestic partners. In all, 9,658 county residents voted to approve it while 8,543 voters were against it.

The Island County Auditor's Office estimates that 6,200 ballots are left to count. The next count will be at 5 p.m. on Nov. 4.

Contact Whidbey News Times Assistant editor Jessie Stensland at jstensland@whidbeynewstimes.com or 360.675.6611 ext. 5056.

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