Note: This story has been updated to reflect additional ballots counted on Thursday.

The votes are being counted and Cheri Van Hoover and Bruce McComas have emerged as the top vote-getters in the primary race for the Jefferson Healthcare commission seat.

So far, Van Hoover has received 48.5 percent of the votes while McComas received 43.14 percent.

In the primary for the Chimacum School District 5 position, Jack McKay and Wilma Hackman are the top vote-getters. McKay has received 37.33 percent and Hackman 35.97 percent.

A final count is to be made when the results are certified Aug. 15.

The top two finishers in the primary will go on to the general election in November.

According to the count on Thursday, there are 24,391 registered voters but only 8,514 ballots were cast, resulting in a voter turnout 34.9 percent.

HOSPITAL PRIMARY

McComas, who has lived in Jefferson County since 1981, said community involvement has always been something he enjoys. He was a founding member of three nonprofits and was named Port Townsend’s “Citizen of the Year” in 2008. He founded and was past president of the Jefferson County Community Foundation, was a founder of Habitat for Humanity of East Jefferson County, and a founding director and vice president of the Jefferson County Education Foundation.

McComas, who has a degree in chemical engineering and a master’s degree in business, also said he could bring a strong financial background to the board.

Van Hoover has more than four decades of experience as an educator, health policy professor and administrator.

Van Hoover is a certified nurse midwife with a master’s degree from State University of New York, Stony Brook.

Along with Lisa Holt, chief ancillary officer of Jefferson Healthcare, Van Hoover was recently awarded the 2017 Best Review Article by the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health for “Midwifing the End of Life: Expanding the Scope of Modern Midwifery Practice to Reclaim Palliative Care.”

CHIMACUM SCHOOL

McKay has worked 45 years in education, including stints as a coach, a principal, a superintendent and even a professor of school law, much of it in rural Nebraska.

Wilma Hackman identified herself as a former educator with 18 years of experience, from preschool through 12th grade, in Seattle and throughout the Olympic Peninsula.

RESULTS (Updated results for Aug. 3)

Older results are below:

EARLIER COUNT (Initial results posted Aug. 3)