Filing period opens in Grant County

Many spots remain open for most races

GRANT COUNTY — Less than a half dozen races are contested for elections this fall, following the first day of in-person filing in Grant County Monday.

Just five of the scores of open races were contested as of Monday afternoon, but officials with the county elections office found that business had been pretty busy for the first day of filing at the Grant County Courthouse. Faith Anderson with the elections office said a line had formed with a few interested candidates before filing began at 8 a.m.

"It's slowed down," she said Monday afternoon. Anderson added that the next busy filing day would be Friday, as candidates wait to see who else has filed for a spot on the fall ballots.

Aspiring candidates have had the option to file by mail for the last few weeks, and Anderson said about half of the filed candidates came from mail-in candidacies. County records show no candidates yet in 39 of the approximately 60 open districts.

Only one of the four open seats on the Moses Lake City Council saw an opponent as of Monday afternoon. Chester W. Paine and James H. Liebrecht have filed for candidacy on Moses Lake City Council Position No. 5, currently held by councilman Stephen Shinn. Mayor Ron Covey and Councilman Brent Reese each remain uncontested in their bids for re-election on council positions No. 2 and No. 4 respectively.

In other Moses Lake races, Larry D. Peterson has filed for re-election at District No. 2 on the commission at the Port of Moses Lake. That race was also uncontested as of Monday.

At the city of Ephrata, two of the five open seats saw contested races as of Monday. Mayor Chris Jacobson will face challenger Steve Oliver this fall, and Councilman Mark S. Wanke will face a challenger in Janice Moore in the race for Council Position No. 2.

Filings as of Monday afternoon also brought two contested races in Electric City. Troy L. Ritter and Bob Rupe are each vying for the mayor's spot; and Wayne Svaren, Jerry Sands and Mark A. Borden are currently in a three-way race for Council Position No. 2.

In other races throughout Grant County, Wilson Creek Mayor Kathy Bohnet has also filed for re-election. Bohnet was the only one yet to file Monday for one of the four open positions in Wilson Creek.

Anderson said she's found more open spots have brought more candidates to the courthouse in odd filing years than their even counterparts.

"We have a lot more people filing in odd years," she said, "so I guess it's a little bit busier."

The candidate filing period is open at the Grant County Courthouse throughout the week, with a filing deadline of 5 p.m. Friday.