PROSECUTOR RACE: Lee 52%, Lin 48%

GRANT COUNTY — In a hotly contested Grant County Prosecutor race, incumbent Angus Lee holds a lead on challenger Albert Lin.

The Grant County Auditor’s Office’s first count of votes was Tuesday night. The voter turnout was 42.16 percent with 13,778 ballots received by the auditor’s office on Nov. 3. There are 32,684 registered votes in Grant County.

Lee leads the election with 6,659 votes. Lin received 6,121 votes, after the initial day of ballot counting, according to the auditor’s office.

The next ballot count is slated for today.

Lee was surrounded by supporters at Basin Street Pizza in Ephrata.

He said he is encouraged by the preliminary results and remains optimistic and eager.

“I am proud to be serving Grant County citizens,” Lee said.

Lee said regardless of the election results, he believed he ran a clean and positive campaign focusing on the facts important to citizens and law enforcement.

Lee’s opponent is waiting for the estimated 3,000 uncounted ballots to be tallied.

Lin said he is cautiously optimistic about the initial results. He called waiting for the results a “nail biter.”

“I feel good about our message and I think people have listened,” Lin said.

He learned of the results while waiting with supporters at Papa’s Casino in Moses Lake.

He tells his supporters to “stay tuned.”

Lin said he ran a consistent campaign with a message of his desire to be a working prosecutor who will fight violent crime. He said his campaign was ran with honesty, professionalism and integrity.

Lin said his top priority for the position involves addressing the growing crime in the Columbia Basin.