Most people have probably heard about the election results by now, but here's a look at today's story if you missed it. Voters in Spokane Valley had only one thing on the ballot - narrowing the field of candidates for Bill Gothmann's council seat from four to two. It's shaping up as a contest between the old council supporters and the new council supporters. Marilyn Cline, who has the support of the Mayor and most council members, got the most votes at 3,702 (41%). Ben Wick, who was endorsed by Gothmann and others who favored the previous council, came in a respectable second at 2,288 votes (25%).

Longtime SCOPE volunteer John Baldwin came in third with 1,507 votes (17%) despite not actively campaigning or raising any money. Retired mining executive Lewis Higgins, a relative newcomer to the Valley compared to the other candidates, picked up 1,392 votes (15%). The elections office also counted 113 write in ballots, but there's no way of telling who people were writing in. It's probably a safe bet that a few jokers wrote in Mickey Mouse.

There's still a few thousand votes to count, so the results aren't official yet. I wouldn't expect any large change in the percentage results, though.

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