The last few hours of the candidate filing period last week were eventful as surprise candidates came forward and one important position was left with no candidates at all.
Candidates for five offices in Island County will appear on the Aug. 1 primary ballot, where they will be pared to two candidates a piece. After that, the county will likely hold a special three-day filing period for 10 local government seats without candidates, Elections Supervisor Michele Reagan said.
Friday afternoon, Coupeville bookstore owner Meg Olson filed to run against Molly Hughes for town mayor while Langley Mayor Scott Chaplin is running for council against Craig Cyr. In addition, Marion Jouas filed for hospital commissioner against Morgan Cooper and Jessica Thompson is running for an Oak Harbor School Board position against Nicole Tesch.
Nobody ended up filing for the Port of Coupeville position currently held by David Day. The lack of interest was especially surprising given the high-profile controversy over the port’s plans for purchasing the Oak Harbor Airport.
The port position without a candidate represents District 1, which covers an area east and south of the town of Coupeville. A map is available on the port website. The other port position on the ballot, for District 3, has two candidates with incumbent John Callahan vying against newcomer Angela Ewert.
Reagan explained that seats without candidates also include three Port of Mabana commissioners and six from smaller districts, specifically one position on Clinton Water, three on North Whidbey Water and two seats on Scatchet Head Sewer.
On the other hand, positions with three or more candidates will appear on the primary ballot. Oak Harbor residents will see four offices with 13 candidates in the primary, while a fifth is for the Stanwood-Camano School District.
The four candidates for Oak Harbor mayor are Craig Nurvic, a physical education teacher at Crescent Harbor Elementary School; Nick Green, the owner of a limo business; Ronnie Wright, the owner of an accounting firm; and Shane Hoffmire, a city council member.
Three candidates for Position 2 on the Oak Harbor Council are Andy Plumlee, Pat Harman and Chris Wiegenstein. The three candidates for Position 4 on the Oak Harbor Council are Wismine D’Avilar, John Chaszar and Barbara Armes.
In addition, the three candidates for Oak Harbor School District 5 are Sharon Jensen, Aisha Mayfield and Will Smith.
A full list of the 89 candidates for the 59 offices in Island County can be seen at voter.votewa.gov/CandidateList.aspx?e=882&c=15.
