Sequim School Board incumbents fared well following the initial ballot count of the 2023 Clallam County Primary election Tuesday night.

Each of the three directors in challenged races looking to keep a seat on the school board held leads on Aug. 1 ballots, the only Sequim-centric races in the Primary.

The state’s top-two primary election will decide which candidates in races with three or more running will go on to the general election on Nov. 7. Those who receive the top two votes will go on to the general.

Voter turnout was about 32 percent, with 12,967 ballots cast in a county of about 40,745 registered voters.

Position 4 appointee former principal Maren Halvorsen had the strongest showing for a two-year, unexpired term, tallying 5,570 of the 8,958 ballots cast (62.2 percent) in Clallam County and a portion of Jefferson County. former school board candidate Derek Huntington is a distant second with 1,843 votes (20.6 percent) and former educator Dean Christian in third with 1,527 votes (17.1 percent).

Position 1 incumbent Larry Jeffryes — a former chemistry and biology teacher who’s served since 2019 — took home a majority of ballots cast with 4,676 of the 9,028 ballots cast (51.8 percent) in vying to keep his seat and a four-year term. Park ranger John Graham is second with 2,562 votes (28.4 percent) and data technician Jim Shepherd (1,776 votes, 19.7 percent) is third.

Finally, appointed incumbent Michael Rocha holds a lead in the race for Sequim School Board Position 5 — a four-year, at-large seat — and has 43.7 percent (3,913 of the 8,962 ballots cast) after the initial count. Sandra Kellso, who earlier this summer announced she has dropped out of the race but remained on the Primary election ballot, is second with 3,201 votes (35.7 percent), and small business owner Hunter Gilliam is third with 1,833 votes (20.5 percent).

Sequim School Board president Eric Pickens is running unopposed.

Each of the positions on the Sequim School Board are nonpartisan.

Also on the Clallam County ballot is Port Angeles City Council Position 6, a four-year term. Incumbent Navarra Carr has a commanding advantage after the first ballot count, with 1,996 of the 3,517 ballots cast (56.7 percent). Sequim firefighter Mark Karjalainen is second with 1,151 votes (32.7 percent), and Nicholas Merrigan, a Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe project manager, is third with 351 votes (10 percent).

Also on the Clallam County ballot is the two-way partisan race for the District 1 County Commission seat, a four-year term. Since there is no contest to be decided in the primary, the same candidates will be on the November ballot. Incumbent Mark Ozias, a Democrat, tallied 5,035 votes for 65 percent of ballots cast, while Republican Stan McClain had 2,695 votes (34.8 percent).