"BREAKING NEWS UPDATE: Largent maintains lead in primary; Schmick closes gap on Hailey"

From the Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

Michael Largent maintains a substantial lead in his bid to become the Republican candidate for Whitman County commissioner District 3 in the Nov. 7 general election.

Largent, who is battling three other Republicans in the primary election, has now received 761 votes, according to results released Wednesday evening by Whitman County Auditor Eunice Coker.

Largent leads fellow Republican candidates James R. White (439 votes), Harmon Smith (432 votes) and Jeannine Henley Larkin (318 votes).

The winner will face Democrat Nathan Weller in the general election.

Coker said 1,077 ballots were counted Wednesday, bringing the total to 5,937. More than 1,000 ballots have yet to be counted. Whitman County officials don't plan to release further results until Thursday night.

In other primary races, the Whitman County Public Hospital District No. 3 Bond Proposition 1 continued to hover above the necessary 60 percent needed to be approved. The bond has received 1,205 “yes” votes (62 percent) and 738 "no" votes.

Joe Schmick of Colfax closed the gap on fellow Republican hopeful Steve Hailey in the race to face Democrat Caitlin Ross for state representative District 9 Position No. 1.

Schmick has now received 1,631 votes in Whitman County and 3,097 overall, while Hailey has received 775 votes in Whitman County and 3,397 total.

Results from Franklin County, where Hailey resides, had yet to be released early Wednesday evening, however. Hailey received the vast majority of the votes in Franklin County on Tuesday, when initial primary results were released.

Tedd Nealey has received 1,016 Whitman County votes and 2,512 overall, while Glen R. Stockwell has received 191 votes in Whitman County and 1,406 total.