Seattle housing levy, Kirkland annexation passing

Some races in Tuesday’s election are close, but others are pretty much decided.

In Seattle, the low income housing levy is passing by a large margin, 63 percent to 37 percent. Prop. 1 will fund affordable housing and other housing needs of low-income households.

On the Eastside, residents of Finn Hill, Kingsgate and North Juanita neighborhoods have voted to join the City of Kirkland, adding 33,000 to the population of the Eastside city. More than 60 percent of the ballots counted support the move.

Also in Kirkland, one-time mayor of Redmond, Doreen Marchione, beat incumbent Tom Hodgson, 65 percent to 35 percent.

Tacoma voters are choosing a new mayor to replace Bill Bardsma, who couldn’t run again because of term limits.

Marilyn Strickland now has about a two percentage point lead over Jim Merritt.

Pierce county is the only one in the state that still has poll precincts.

In Snohomish County, three incumbent council members are facing re-election challenges.

In District 1, John Koster, the council's lone Republican, is leading Democrat Ellen Hiatt Watson by 12 points.

In District 4, incumbent Democrat Dave Gossett is also winning re-election over Republican challenger Bob Meador.

And in District 5, it's incumbent Democrat Dave Somers with an 8-point lead over Republican Steve Dana, the former mayor of Snohomish.

In Bremerton, the race for is tights. The Kitsap Sun reports former county commissioner Patty Lent has a 41-vote lead over City Councilman Will Maupin.

In Vancouver, it appears that City Councilman Tim Leavitt will unseat Mayor Royce Pollard. The Vancouver Columbian reports Leavitt has a 54-46 percent lead.

In other races, Lake Stevens approved an annexation of 10,000 people, and Pierce County voted to eliminate a Superior Court judge.