Bartrand leads assessor race in preliminary results

EPHRATA — Preliminary election results show Grant County Assessor Candidate Anson Bartrand leading over challenger Clayton Johnson, but both candidates say the race remains far from decided as thousands of ballots remain uncounted. As of the Nov. 3 count, Bartrand received 7,152 votes to Johnson's 5,195. However, Election Coordinator Rebecca Pettingill said Wednesday afternoon that election workers still had about 7,000 ballots in the office awaiting processing and estimated that roughly 15,000 ballots remain to be counted countywide before certification. “If we're going to be anywhere near where we were in 2022, which we're still on kind of track to be, we'll probably process another 15,000 ballots before the end of the election,” Pettingill said.