Clouse wins second term as county commissioner, clerk's race still undecided

The race for the Thurston County Board of County Commissioners District 5 seat has been decided with incumbent Emily Clouse earning a second term in office.

Updated unofficial results from the Thurston County Auditor’s Office Elections Division showed Clouse had built a large enough advantage over Nicolas Martinez-Dunning to be declared the winner in the November General Election contest.

Clouse received 61,426 votes (52.37 percent), while Martinez-Dunning received 53,707 votes (45.79 percent, according to unofficial results released on Thursday, Nov. 12. Write-in totals accounted for 2,153 votes (1.84 percent).  

Clouse, who was first elected to office in November 2023, has a lead over Martinez-Dunning that is bigger than the number of votes left to be counted in the county, which stood at roughly 6,000 on Nov. 12.

The District 5 position carries an annual salary of $147,936 or $12,328 per month, according to 2026 Thurston County salary data.

Partisan races

In the race for Thurston County Clerk, Nicole Miller received 62,947 votes (51.41 percent), compared with 58,871 (48.08 percent) for Garrett Cady. Write-in totals accounted for 623 votes (0.51 percent).

Cady would need to capture roughly 5,100 of the remaining votes to overtake Miller.

The position comes with an annual salary of $147,936 or $12,328 per month, according to 2026 Thurston County salary data.

Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders secured another term in office earlier this week with a lopsided win over challenger Kevin Burton-Crow. Sanders held a lead of more than 50,000 votes as of Nov. 12.

The position comes with an annual salary of $182,761 or $15,230 per month, according to 2026 Thurston County salary data.

JJ Olson will be the next Thurston County Assessor. He amassed a big enough advantage over Lynda Nashed Zeman earlier this week to claim the post. Olson had a lead of nearly 17,000 votes as of Nov. 12.

The position comes with an annual salary of $147,936 or $12,328 per month, according to 2026 Thurston County salary data.

Ballot measures

Proposition 1 (Bonds for Fire Stations, Training Facility, Logistics Warehouse) from Lacey Fire District 3 received 26,780 “yes” votes (70.15 percent), compared with 11,398 “no” votes (29.85 percent), as of Nov. 12. The proposition has surpassed the 60 percent threshold required for approval.

Proposition 1 (Educational Programs and Operations Maintenance Levy) from Yelm Community Schools received 6,756 “yes” votes (57.87 percent), compared with 4,919 “no” votes (42.13 percent), as of Nov. 12.

Proposition 1 (Regular Property Tax Levy Lid Lift for Library Services, Operations and Maintenance) from Timberland Regional Library received 77,821 “yes” votes (61.50 percent), compared with 48,727 “no” votes (38.50 percent), as of Nov. 12.

The muti-jurisdictional proposition (Grays Harbor, Mason, Lewis, Pacific and Thurston counties) needs a simple majority to pass. The proposition was easily ahead of that threshold on Nov. 12, largely because of the support from Thurston County.

A total of 132,561 ballots have been cast in the November General Election in Thurston County, as of Nov. 12. Voter turnout totaled 61.67 percent. There were 214,940 registered voters on the rolls at the time of the election.