Election Central

PORTLAND - At the close of election night, in the Vancouver Mayoral race, challenger Tim Leavitt leads incumbent Royce Pollard, while in Washougal, Mayor Stacee Selles has gone down to defeat at the hands of Sean Guard.

The closest race so far is in Washington State, where Referendum Measure 71, which would expand marriage rights to same sex couples, has been back-and-forth all night.

With just under one million votes in, 507,547 (51.12%) voters have cast a ballot for approval, while 485,423 (48.88%) have voted to reject the measure.

Updated notes from Election Night

UPDATE (10:40): Votes continue to trickle in from Pierce County tonight, but not much change to Measure 71. As of now, 507,547 (51.12%) have voted to approve, while 485,423 (48.88%) have cast a ballot to reject.

UPDATE (9:16): Now the votes to reject Referendum Measure 71 have slowly krept closer to the votes to approve. Currently, with just under one million votes counted, votes to approve the measure lead by just over 22,000 (51%-49%).

UPDATE (9:05): Just called into Clark County elections office, who said not to expect more updates tonight. As of now, challenger Tim Leavitt leads incumbent Mayor Royce Pollard 12,644 to 10,894.

UPDATE (8:57): The Referendum Measure 71 in Washington State seems to be going down to the wire. 51.8% have approved the measure so far, which would expand marriage rights to same sex couples, while 48.2% have voted to reject the measure.

UPDATE (8:36): With nearly 900,000 votes in, 52% have voted to approved Measure 71, while 48% have voted to reject. Columbia, Douglas, Pend Oreille, Pierce and Whatcom Counties votes are still not accounted for. 

UPDATE (8:25): The tide has turned on Measure 71 in Washington. Over 376,298 are for the approval of the expansion of marriage rights, while 341,999 have rejected the referendum.

UPDATE (8:20): The challenger Sean Guard is holding an early lead in the Washougal Mayor race over incumbent Stacee Sellers, 1,577 votes to 669.

UPDATE (8:15): In the hotly contested Mayoral race in Vancouver, challenger Tim Leavitt is out to an early lead, capturing 53.1% of the vote to Pollard's 46.3%.

UPDATE (8:07): Domestic partnership measure 71 in Washington State has first update - 74,440 (59.6%) rejected the referendum that would expand rights to same sex partners, while just 50,395 (40.4%) have approved the measure.

Check here for all your election coverage for Nov. 3, 2009, including the hot Mayoral race in Vancouver.
 
Royce Pollard tries to hold off challenger Tim Leavitt.

KOIN's Tim Gordon had the story on the race last week.

Check here for the Washington County ballot measures.

Mayoral races top election night

by Tim Gordon

VANCOUVER, Wash.-  Two Mayoral races in southwest Washington are getting lots of attention for completely different reasons. 

In Vancouver, the longtime incumbent is facing the battle of his political life this election night, as a challenger who won the primary is running a tough race right to the wire.  Royce Pollard has been mayor for fourteen years, and has always been re-elected with ease.  But this time, he faces a challenger in councilman Tim Leavitt, who has taken Pollard on for being status quo, and not friendly to local businesses.  It's a charge to which the mayor strongly disagrees, citing a track record of bringing business and 14,000 jobs to Vancouver as mayor. 

The Vancouver mayor's race is expected to be close.

In Washougal, incumbent mayor Stacee Sellers is challenged by former city councilor Sean Guard.  Guard got state auditors to look at concerns of financial irregularities with taxpayer dollars under the Sellers administration.  The Washington State Auditor found numerous problems involving missing or unaccounted for city funds totaling about $100,000 dollars.  

In the Vancouver race, early returns show Tim Leavitt ahead by a moderate margin.  

In the Washougal race, Sean Guard has a sizable lead in early returns.

Stay with KOIN Local six for the latest, and be sure to visit the Election Central section to get the latest results.