By Brenda Starkey
Chronicle correspondent

     Brad Miller, R-Curlew, and Robert L. (Bob) Heath, D-Inchelium, apparently have won the two contested races for Ferry County commissioner with a 79 percent voter turnout, according to unofficial election night returns.
     Heath took 53.71 percent of the ballots, or 1,672 votes for District 3 commissioner, apparently defeating incumbent Mike Blankenship, R-Barstow, who received 46.29 percent or 1,441 ballots.
     Incumbent Miller received 58 percent of the ballots for District 1 commissioner, or 1,798 votes, compared to 42 percent or 1,302 of the tallied ballots for Dennis C. Wuerth, an independent from Curlew.
     Doug Aubertin ran an uncontested race for public utility commissioner No. 3, receiving 2,192 votes.
     In uncontested races for Ferry County Superior Court judge, Rebecca M. Baker received 2,113 votes and Allen C. Nielson 2,233. Ferry County ballots will be combined with those from Stevens and Pend Oreille counties for those races.
     In races for 7th District state representative, Shelly Short received 67.07 percent of Ferry County ballots compared to her opponent Sue Lani Madsen's 32.93 percent. Both are Republicans.
     According to district-wide results from the Office of the Secretary of State, Short is leading in unofficial returns.
     Rep. Joel Kretz, R-Wauconda, running unopposed, got 2,556 votes in Ferry County.
     Those results will be tallied with other counties in the district to determine winners.
     Ferry County voters gave incumbent U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Republican, 2,316 votes, 71.5 percent, compared to 923 or 28.5 percent for Mark Mays, a Democrat.
     Rodgers is leading district-wide.
     In the presidential race, John McCain and Sarah Palin took 54.96 percent of the Ferry County ballots compared to 41.92 percent for Barack Obama and Joe Biden. National media, however, were declaring Obama and Biden the winners, and McCain congratulated Obama on his victory.
     In state races Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi, Republican, received 61.74 percent of Ferry County votes compared to 38.26 percent for incumbent Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire. Rossi also was leading statewide on election night.
     Ferry County voters gave Republican Marcia McCraw a narrow 50.78 percent margin over 49.22 percent for incumbent Lt. Gov. Brad Owens, Democrat.
     In the race for Washington secretary of state, incumbent Sam Reed took 63.55 percent of county ballots while Jason Osgood took 36.44 percent.
     In the race for state treasurer Allan Martin, Republican, got 1,760 Ferry County votes while Jim McIntire, Democrat, received 1,279.
     For state auditor, Richard (Dick) McEntee, Republican, got 1,541 votes while incumbent Brian Sonntag, a Democrat, received 1,512.
     In the race for attorney general, incumbent Republican Rob McKenna tallied 66.43 percent of county votes while John Ladenburg got 33.57 percent of the county ballots.
     Ferry County voters also gave incumbent Republican Doug Sutherland 57.59 percent of the ballots compared to Democratic challenger Peter Goldmarkís 42.41 percent.
     Teresa (Terry) Bergeson, superintendent of public instruction, took the majority of county ballots with 52.46 percent compared to 47.54 for Randy Dorn.
     Local ballots also gave Republican John R. Adams 52.12 percent approval for insurance commissioner and Democrat incumbent Mike Kreidler 47.88 percent.
     Initiative Measures 985, for transportation, was opposed by 67.79 percent of county voters.
     Initiative Measure 1000, which would allow terminally ill patients to obtain lethal prescriptions, won the favor of 56.47 percent of the Ferry County electorate and Initiative Measure 1029, which would change requirements for long-term care workers, received approval of 68.55 percent of the county ballots.
     Local ballots will be tallied with those statewide for state positions and initiatives.
     In Ferry County there were 3,368 ballots cast. The next count is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 7, at 3 p.m.