The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON - The Columbia County Auditor's Office announced Tuesday that Randy O. Lewis's name will be added to the general election ballot this year as a challenger to County Prosecutor Rea Culwell.

Lewis, who challenged Culwell in her 2010 reelection bid and lost, received 18 write-in votes in this year's primary election. Culwell was running unopposed.

According to Washington State law, if a write-in candidate receives at least one percent of the total votes cast in a race, he or she is eligible to be added to the general election ballot, provided the candidate is one of the top two vote-getters. Less than 1,000 votes were cast for Prosecutor, so Lewis easily qualified.

Abby Broughton Marsh, who is an attorney with the Nealey and Marinella Law Firm in Dayton, received 12 write-in votes, according to the Auditor's Office, and would have qualified for the ballot had Lewis not received more write-ins.

Lewis is an attorney who moved to Dayton from Louisiana about a decade ago. He entered private practice here and has served as a public defender.

The Election Canvassing Board met Tuesday morning at the Auditor's office to certify the election results and make a final determination of which write-in candidate for prosecutor would qualify for the ballot. They discussed at length Lewis's eligibility for the ballot, since there are two registered voters in Columbia County named Randy Lewis. They determined that, since only one of them, Randy O. Lewis, is a member of the State Bar Association, and thus qualified for the position, his name would be the one added.