With about half of the total number of ballots mailed to Ocean Shores voters tabulated, the “Reject” votes are 542 ahead of the “Approved” vote, on “Proposition 1, Levy to Support Emergency Medical Services.” Supporters of the lid lift will have to hope for a seismic swing of pro-Prop 1 late voters.

In the only contested city council position, incumbent Nick Johnson, trailing newcomer Jackie Farra by 246 votes, is in a similar position, though his late rally would not have to be nearly as extreme.

Early results posted by the County election site:

That is just under 10 percent of Ocean Shores’ 3,307 registered voters . . . although some of those dropping off ballots here could be North Beach residents. In any case, this big chunk of last-day voters (not even including those who mailed ballots at the Post Office today) could mean that one or both of the contested elections (lid lift and Johnson vs. Farra) may be “too close to call” when the County puts up numbers tonight. Stay tuned . . .

There have been 1,279 ballots received by the County from Ocean Shores, as of this afternoon. That is up from the 790 received, as of Monday. The new total is 39 percent of the total 3,307 Ocean Shores voters.

The Chamber of Commerce has a well-linked web page devoted to  our coming elections. If you want to know more about the four candidates for three City Council seats, click here. (Nice work, web wizard Bruce Richardson!)

The not-quite-final Weatherwax vote, released at 4:15 p.m. today by the Grays Harbor County elections office: “retain” has 1,862 votes, or 66.69 percent; “sell all or part” has 930 votes, or 33.31 percent. (Almost identical to the first tally.)

With 2,792 votes counted so far, and 3,279 ballots mailed out to Ocean Shores voters, that’s an 85 percent voter-participation rate.

Another ballot count comes Nov. 19. Click here for the county-wide voting.

Some members of Ocean Shores Citizens for Balanced Growth, wearing big smiles Wednesday at the library, where they met to plan a victory party for the big “retain” vote on Weatherwax.

Tough night for former Ocean Shores City Councilman Ken Estes. Running for Grays Harbor Commissioner Position 1, he was trailing Terry Willis by a wide margin. With the first 18,500 votes cast, Willis had 10,826, or 58 percent. Estes had 7,702 votes, 41.5 percent.

For Commissioner Postion 2, Mike Wilson had nearly 62 percent of the vote, to 38 percent for Frank Moses.

“Yes, we can change!” Obama said in his victory speech tonight.

“No, we will not change!” the citizens of Ocean Shores shouted, regarding Weatherwax.

Shortly after 8 p.m., the Grays Harbor County Auditor’s online site reported that with 2,010 votes cast, 1,383 (66.49%) voted “retain” on the Weatherwax advisory vote. “Sell” received 697 votes (33.51%). The total of votes counted was right around two-thirds of Ocean Shores’ registered voters, and most felt it was a clear, resounding message from the citizens to City Council: don’t mess with Weatherwax.

Larry Phoenix, leader of the Voice for Positive Change group that urged a “sell” vote, did not question the results. “The citizens of Ocean Shores stated what they wanted to do, and that’s fine with me . . . the vote came out to retain, that’s a closed issue for us, we’ll move on to other issues.”

John Clark, who with his wife Catie founded Ocean Shores Citizens for Balanced Growth to protect the Weatherwax, said the vote was “extraordinary. Two-thirds to one-third! That’s better than I ever thought we would do. I knew we would win this, because civic pride leads you to protecting things like this . . . What this vote tells me is people really understood what was going on.

“I love the pride of these citizens of Ocean Shores. The message obviously is not to sell it. What ‘retain’ means to them will be clarified in the future. But it can’t mean anything to any serious city council person except protect it for nature and green space.”

Dave Creighton is in his 12^th year as a city council member. The sell-or-keep Weatherwax issue “reared its head a few times over the years. Maybe this will put it somewhat to rest. . .

“From a personal standpoint, I had given thoughts to some golf holes being moved and things around those lines. But to be honest, all I wanted was whatever the people of Ocean Shores wanted. . . .. For me it’s a win. We brought it up to the people, and they decided.”

Mayor Dean Bunkers said he was surprised by the early results. “I didn’t think it would be that big of a split. … That certainly has sent a clear message to the city council. It’s kind of done what we wanted it to do, to get an idea what the citizens wanted.”