Two local primary races change as more ballots counted

The top finishers in two local primary races changed in the second day of counting ballots.

In the race to face incumbent Spokane City Councilman Mike Fagan in the November election, Randy Ramos, a Spokane Tribal College recruiter, edged ahead of Ben Krauss, a Spokane police crime analyst.

On Tuesday, Krauss held a one-vote lead over Ramos. On Wednesday, Ramos led by 16 votes.

There are about 130 votes left to count in the race. Most will be counted today. If the difference between Ramos and Krauss – when only considering the ballots cast for those two candidates – is a half percent or less, the ballots will be recounted.

After Wednesday’s count, the margin was just outside that requirement.

Fagan was the top vote-getter in the race, garnering 49.8 percent of the vote.

In another close race that might not be decided for days, former Franklin County Sheriff Richard Lathim edged ahead of former Othello City Councilman Kenneth Caylor for the right to face incumbent state Rep. Mary Dye in the general election.

Democrat Caylor was in second place after the ballots were counted on election night, but Republican Lathim went up by 161 votes Wednesday, after three of southeast Washington’s three counties continued processing ballots. All three – Spokane, Franklin and Adams – were counties where Lathim was polling ahead of Caylor. Two counties where Caylor ran stronger on election night, Asotin and Whitman, won’t count more ballots until later this week.