Whitman County Auditor finalizes 2024 general election results

It’s official — Roger Sandberg will be Whitman County Superior Court’s new judge at the turn of the year.

Sandberg beat his opponent Jenna Brozik with 10,550 votes to 7,561 votes, according to Tuesday night’s finalized election results.

Both Pullman attorneys competed for the position that opened up when longtime Judge Gary Libey announced his retirement. He’s held the seat since being appointed in 2017.

The Whitman County Auditor finalized the Nov. 5 general election results Tuesday. There were 24,589 registered voters with a turnout of 82% as 20,257 ballots were totaled.

Most of the county’s town measures passed, however Tuesday’s results revealed more than a handful were unsuccessful. Some were close calls, but failed to reach the supermajority of 60% needed to be approved.

The Uniontown parks improvement levy that would have generated funds over the next years for maintenance and improvements was rejected by constituents. The measure received 100 approving votes to 94 disapproving votes.

The Endicott town park maintenance levy failed with 87 yes votes to 78 no votes. The $15,000 levy was proposed to maintain parks, public spaces and the Third Street divider in town.

Rosalia’s town street levy of $50,000 was rejected by voters with 186 approving votes to 129 disapproving votes.

Rosalia Parks and Recreation’s levy also failed with 317 yes votes to 274 no votes. The $98,500 measure would have financed maintenance and operation costs of the Rosalia Park and Swimming Pool.

Tekoa Parks and Recreation’s $130,000 proposal to renew a previous levy was rejected with 307 approving votes to 207 disapproving votes. The measure would have funded maintenance and operations for local parks.

The Whitman County Cemetery District 2 in Garfield $120,000 levy failed with 259 yes votes to 181 no votes. It was proposed to support operations, maintenance and a variety of improvements to the grounds.

Sandy Jamison, Whitman County auditor, said the election went smoothly except for one hiccup — a couple hundred blank ballots that were lost on their way to voters by the U.S. Postal Service.

A week before the Election Day, Jamison announced roughly 250 local vote-by-mail ballots were never delivered to constituents. These were mostly addressed to P.O. Boxes in Garfield.

All Whitman County ballots were sent Oct. 16 and successfully scanned by the main Spokane postal office.

Postal service personnel are searching for the missing ballots by retracing distribution routes in hopes to reveal their location. Jamison has been regularly checking with officials, but hasn’t heard any new developments.

She’s investigating the matter and will update the public when information becomes available.

Voters who did not receive a ballot were given the opportunity to request another.

To view complete election results, including additional rural levies, visit results.vote.wa.gov/results/20241105/whitman.

Pearce can be reached at epearce@dnews.com.