An initial count of about 30% of votes in Stevens County has Erika George and Geoff Kristianson in the lead for county prosecutor as of Tuesday night.

Ballot processing in Stevens County is delayed due to an illness-related staffing shortage, the county auditor’s office said in a statement on their website.

Out of 2,748 votes, Erika George, a deputy prosecutor for Stevens County, had the lead with 36% of the vote, followed by Geoff Kristianson, a deputy prosecutor for Spokane County, with 30 %.

Ken Tyndal and Nick Force, both deputy prosecutors for Stevens County, took 20% and 13%, respectively.

The top two candidates will proceed to the Nov. 8 general election.

There are about 7,000 ballots remaining to be counted. The next update will be Friday at noon.

“Since Tuesday, July 25, the Stevens County Auditor’s Office has been operating at about half our normal staffing, due to illness and required quarantine,” the auditor’s office said in a statement.

“This has slowed our ballot processing. We will continuing processing ballots and updating vote totals every three business days.”

All four candidates are running as Republicans. The Stevens County Republican Central Committee endorsed George and Tyndal.

Incumbent county prosecutor Tim Rasmussen will retire at the end of this year, citing health reasons. Rasmussen endorsed Tyndal.