State Court of Appeals Judge Ian Birk held a narrow statewide lead over King County Superior Court Judge Sean O’Donnell in early returns Tuesday night in the race for Position 4 on the Washington Supreme Court.
Statewide, Birk had 546,750 votes, or 50.4%, to O’Donnell’s 535,008, or 49.3%, according to the Washington Secretary of State.
Kitsap County voters favored O’Donnell, 51.8% to 47.8%, or 42,923 votes to 39,617, according to unofficial results posted by the Kitsap County Auditor’s Office at 8:13 p.m. Tuesday.
Countywide, 92,136 ballots had been counted, a turnout of 45.1% of Kitsap County’s 204,242 registered voters.
The Kitsap County Auditor’s Office will keep counting ballots in the coming days, including mailed ballots postmarked by Election Day, and results can change. The county is scheduled to certify the election Nov. 24.
The winner will serve a six-year term.
The seat is open because Justice Charles Johnson reached the mandatory retirement age. With only two candidates, the race did not appear on the August primary ballot.
Birk is a judge on the state Court of Appeals. O’Donnell has been a King County Superior Court judge for nearly 14 years, including as chief criminal judge, after 12 years as a senior deputy King County prosecutor; he has made public safety experience the focus of his campaign.
The race is the most expensive of this year’s Supreme Court contests, with the two candidates combining for more than $1.1 million in fundraising. Washington Supreme Court races are nonpartisan.
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