Commissioner Clouse inches from win in District 5 race

Thurston County District 5 Commissioner Emily Clouse was on the verge of a second term in office, as she continued to maintain her roughly 7,300 vote margin over Nicolas Martinez-Dunning in the November General Election.

Clouse received 60,065 votes (52.28 percent), updated unofficial results from the Thurston County Auditor’s Office Elections Division showed on Tuesday, Nov. 10.

Martinez-Dunning, a former Lacey City Council member, received 52,724 votes (45.89 percent). Write-in totals accounted for 2,105 votes (1.83 percent).

With roughly 8,500 votes remaining to be counted as of Nov. 10, Martinez-Dunning would need to capture nearly 7,950 of the votes to pass Clouse.

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

Partisan offices

In the race for Thurston County Clerk, Nicole Miller received 61,554 votes (51.31 percent), compared with 57,800 (48.18 percent) for Garrett Cady. Write-in totals accounted for 603 votes (0.50 percent).

Cady would need to capture nearly 6,150 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 49,500 votes, as of Nov. 10.

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. 10.

Ballot measures

Proposition 1 (Bonds for Fire Stations, Training Facility, Logistics Warehouse) from Lacey Fire District 3 received 26,184 votes (70.13 percent), compared with 11,153 votes (29.87 percent), as of Nov. 10. The proposition has surpassed the 60 percent threshold required for approval.

Proposition 1 (Educational Programs and Operations Maintenance Levy) from Yelm Community Schools received 6,644 “yes” votes (57.81 percent), compared with 4,848 “no” votes (42.19 percent), as of Nov. 10.

Proposition 1 (Regular Property Tax Levy Lid Lift for Library Services, Operations and Maintenance) from Timberland Regional Library received 76,114 “yes” votes (61.40 percent), compared with 47,848 “no” votes (38.60 percent), as of Nov. 10.

The muti-jurisdictional proposition (Grays Harbor, Mason, Lewis, Pacific and Thurston counties) needs a simple majority to pass. The proposition was well ahead of that threshold on Nov. 10, largely because of the support from Thurston County.

A total of 129,801 ballots have been cast in the November General Election in Thurston County, as of Nov. 10. Voter turnout totaled 60.39 percent. There were 214,940 registered voters on the rolls at the time of the election.