One of Whidbey General Hospital’s loudest critics received the most votes in the race for a seat on the board, according to the first count of ballots in the primary election.

Both challenger Rob Born and incumbent Georgia Gardner will be moving forward, while Rita Drum was knocked out.

Born received the most votes with 3,858, which is 47 percent. Gardner got 3,136 ballots cast in her favor, or 38 percent. Drum received 1,311 votes, or 16 percent.

Born said he feels good about making the top two.

“I spent the past week on street corners waving a sign,” he said. He waved signs from locations in Langley to Oak Harbor.

“I just got a whole lot of beeps and waves,” he said

He wonders what’s going to happen next. “That’s the wild card. Is she going to turn into a different breed of campaigner? If she does, we’ll have to step it up.”