It’s been more than a month since Clallam County’s general election results gained national attention for its presidential picks, and not much has changed in counts since the local election was certified on Nov. 24.
Secretary of State Kim Wyman certified the state’s election on Dec. 1 with about 84.14 percent voter turnout. Clallam County upped the average with about 86.1 percent turnout.
At the forefront is the county’s continued streak to select the next president dating back to 1980 with Ronald Reagan. Clallam voters hold the distinction of the nation’s longest accurate streak by selecting President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Looking at Clallam’s totals from Nov. 10, Biden/Harris led Clallam with 50.4 percent (23,801) to incumbent President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence’s 46.7 percent (22,050).
Final totals in Clallam were: Biden/Harris, 24,721 votes (50.2 percent); Trump/Pence, 23,062 votes (46.8 percent).
Statewide, Wyman’s office shows voters selected Biden/Harris at 57.97 percent (2.369 million votes) versus Trump/Pence’s 38.77 percent (1.584 million). Of Washington state’s 39 counties, 26 selected Trump/Pence and 13 for Biden/Harris. Pacific County saw the smallest split, a difference of 159 votes for Trump.
State data shows Clallam voters missed the mark in 1976 going with incumbent Gerald Ford rather than Jimmy Carter, and in 1968 opting for Hubert Humphrey instead of Richard Nixon.
The Secretary of State’s website notes that general election results and county breakdowns for president in Washington prior to 1932 are unavailable.
Sequim and county numbers
With Clallam’s certification, voters in the Sequim School District boundaries favored Biden/Harris in 24 precincts to Trump/Pence’s eight. As a county, 40 precincts favored Biden to 27 for Trump.
Between Nov. 4-24, three precincts narrowly changed to favor Trump: Black Diamond in west Port Angeles (254-241), and two Sequim School District precincts: Monterra (403-400) and Prairie North (388-373). Previous counts all had Biden leading by single digits in those areas. No precinct changed to favor Biden in final counts and 12 of 13 Port Angeles-specific precincts selected Biden.
By popular vote, the Sequim area chose Biden 12,463 votes to Trump’s 10,883 making up just over half of Biden’s Clallam votes and about 47.2 percent of Trump’s county total.
In the City of Sequim’s six precincts, all favored Biden by a total of 810 votes. City voters last split in 2012 with only 11 more votes in the city going to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
County precinct reports dating back to 1996 show the Sequim area leaning Republican in the presidential races from 1996-2016 with Bob Dole (1996), George W. Bush (2000, 2004), and Romney (2012) winning nearly two-three times more Sequim-area precincts than their Democratic challengers. John McCain won one more Sequim area precinct than Barack Obama in 2008, and Trump won four more than Hilary Clinton four years ago.
For more information on local races, visit clallam.net/elections and www.sos.wa.gov/elections.
