How did we vote? A look closer look at local election results

By Pat Grubb

If you thought the Trump signs outnumbered the Clinton signs around the hood, you weren’t wrong. And if you figured that might reflect how your neighbors were going to vote, you figured right. Voters living in The Northern Light’s readership area came out solidly in favor of insurgent presidential candidate Donald Trump as well as down-ballot Republican candidates. In many, if not most cases, the differences in voting patterns between local, county and state voters are significant and interesting to consider.

As part of The Northern Light’s election coverage, staff has compiled voting data for the precincts from information available at the county auditor’s office and prepared spreadsheets showing local, county and state results.

Local voters came out strong for Donald Trump with 57 percent voting for the businessman compared to compared to 45 percent for the county and state voters. Trump received 85.3 percent of the votes east of Blaine (Precincts 116 and 117) while Blaine (301, 302, 303 and 304) voted 54 percent in favor of Hillary Clinton.

In fact, voters east of Blaine were outliers in almost all of the races and initiatives on the ballot posting the highest percentages in favor of Republican candidates and the lowest on initiatives and measures especially so on any of the tax

proposals.

Even still, local voters tended to fall on the conservative side of the ledger. For example, the initiative to raise Washington state’s minimum wage received 49 percent Yes votes while the county and state voted 58 percent in favor. Similarly, the proposed Emergency Medical Services levy received 51 percent locally while the county as a whole voted 59.8 percent in favor. (The measure is currently failing as it requires a 60 percent super-majority in order to pass.)

How to read the tables

Vote percentages apply to the left-most column. For example, Hillary Clinton received 43.1 percent of local votes; Trump received the obverse of that figure (100 minus 43.1 equals 56.9 percent). Luanne Van Werven received 62.6 percent of local votes; her opponent received 37.4 percent.

Click here to see a local precinct breakdown for all the voting issues.