A Quick Trip To Polls Today In Some Cities

If you live in the right place, today is election day.

But don’t worry about spending too much time at the polls. No voter in Spokane County has more than four holes to punch in his or her primary ballot.

Voters in the cities of Spokane, Airway Heights, Cheney, Deer Park, Medical Lake and Spangle have a chance to trim the field of candidates who want to serve as their mayors or council members.

The Spokane municipal elections feature a five-way race for mayor, in which incumbent Jack Geraghty is challenged by civic activist John Talbott, state Rep. Duane Sommers, former Mayor Sheri Barnard and political newcomer David Howell.

Two Spokane City Council seats also have enough candidates that voters need to weed out the crop.

Spokane School District 81, East Valley and Riverside school districts also have board seats on the ballot, while County Fire District No. 3 has an equipment levy and the Four Lakes Water District has a primary for a commissioner seat.

Many other school and water districts will hold elections in November, but they didn’t attract enough candidates to require a primary.

Voters in Springdale and Chewelah also have mayoral primaries to consider.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Questions about where to go to vote can be answered by county elections offices. In Spokane, that number is 456-2320.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Primary results

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: PRIMARY RESULTS For up-to-the-minute election results in contested races, after 10:30 p.m. call 458-8800 and press category 9494 then press a number below: 1. Spokane city races and School District 81; 2. Outlying cities in Spokane County; 3. Outlying school districts in Spokane County; 4. Outlying counties.

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