By Ann McCreary
Les Stokes appears to have defeated incumbent Roy Reiber in the race for a seat on the Okanogan County Fire District 6 board of commissioners by 808 to 739 votes, with less than 400 votes to be tallied countywide.
“As Yogi Berra used to say, ‘It ain’t over ‘til it’s over,’” Stokes said Monday (Nov. 9). He said he would wait until final election results are in to claim victory.
However, Stokes said he thinks his lead in the election “indicates a lot of people feel there needs to be more responsiveness to the public and people need to be informed.”
As he did during his campaign, Stokes said he wants to give the public more opportunity to be involved in fire district affairs.
With regard to the district’s controversial proposal to build a new fire hall in Winthrop, Stokes said, “I categorically agree that something needs to be done in Winthrop. Everything they planned is not going off the table. It’s going to be looked at.”
No other local races had more than one candidate. The county auditor’s office reported that countywide voter turnout was about 43 percent.
