Absentees To Decide Council Races

A tumultuous general election has one Spokane City Council member readying to pack her bags and another clinging to his post by a few votes.

Voters landed a devastating blow to Councilwoman Bev Numbers, who trailed her opponent, retired U.S. Army Col. Jeff Colliton, by more than 2,700 votes Wednesday.

Twenty-nine votes divided Councilman Orville Barnes from challenger John Talbott, with the incumbent holding the narrow lead.

About 6,000 remaining absentee ballots will be counted by the middle of next week. Absentee ballots counted earlier favored Talbott.

In the third council race, Roberta Greene topped Jim Kolva by nearly 5,500 votes in the race for Joel Crosby’s seat. Crosby decided not to seek re-election.

The possibility that two incumbents could be unseated shocked another council member.

“The only thing that makes any sense to me, considering they’re both responsible people, is an anti-incumbent sentiment,” said Councilwoman Phyllis Holmes.

Numbers spent the early hours of Wednesday collecting signs with her husband, Jerry, and keeping an ear on election returns.

“I heard it on the radio about 3 a.m.,” said a tired and tearful Numbers. “I can’t honestly, at this point, even evaluate it real clearly.

“I think it was the sentiment of ‘Throw the rascals out.”’

She added that there was “no doubt” her support of the STA bus plaza contributed to her loss.

Numbers was appointed to the council in 1990.

In 1991, she ran for re-election unopposed after a judge ruled that her challenger, current Councilman Chris Anderson, was ineligible because he hadn’t been a city resident at least two years as required by the City Charter.

Talbott ran an unsuccessful write-in campaign against her that year.

Colliton, who also spent a sleepless night picking up campaign signs, said he was “feeling very pleased” by the results.

“It shows that someone with no name identity can do it,” he said.

A close race is deja vu for Barnes, who won his first term with absentee ballots.

Barnes and Talbott both challenged incumbent Bob Dellwo four years ago. Talbott fell off in the primary, and Barnes was losing by a slim margin to Dellwo prior to the absentee count.

Neither Barnes nor Talbott was ready to claim victory or concede defeat Wednesday. In fact, the race is likely to be so close as to trigger an automatic recount.

“I sure had hoped that it would be better than that,” Barnes said. Either way, “life isn’t going to end Dec. 31” when his current term expires.

“I feel very comfortable with winning or losing, either one,” Talbott said. “But I think it’s going to go my way.”

, DataTimes