Unlike past elections in which some contests were too close to call, the first count of ballots on Tuesday night shows that voters made clear choices in local races affecting Whidbey Island.

The Island County Elections Office counted 15,150 ballots from about 23% of registered voters, while an estimated 1,800 ballots are left to count.

In arguably the most hotly contested race on the island, the incumbent member of the South Whidbey School Board is well ahead of her challenger. Ann Johnson has 3,168 ballots cast in her favor, which is about 65.5% of the vote, while Gwendy Gabelein has 1,667 votes, or about 34.5%.

Andrea Downs ran uncontested for her seat on the South Whidbey School Board. In Oak Harbor, Nicole Tesch and Sharon Jensen ran unopposed for school board seats. Likewise in Coupeville, Nancy Conard, Bryan Sherman and Morgan White do not have challengers.

It appears that Linda Gipson’s late write-in candidacy for a seat on the WhidbeyHealth Hospital Board was not successful. Mark Borden received 5,813 votes, or 79%, which Juliann Althoff — who withdrew from the race — still managed to receive 1,532 votes, or nearly 21%.

The Elections Office reported that 2,371 unresolved write-in votes were counted in the race, but they won’t be assigned to a specific candidate unless there are enough to change the results of the race.

In another hospital board race, James Canby is leading with 6,886 votes, or nearly 77%, while Christina LeClaire has 2,092 votes, of about 23%.

The closest race is between Dennis Rochier and Kirk Gasper, two doctors who are running for a seat on the hospital board. Gasper has 5,236 votes, or about 53%, while Rochier has 4,579, or nearly 47%.

The South Whidbey Parks and Recreation District levy has a lot of support, with more than 61% of ballots cast as “yes” votes.

In one of the two contested races for an Oak Harbor City Council seat, James Marrow has 947 votes, or nearly 61%, while Brit Kraner has 616 votes, which is more than 39%.

In the other race, Sandi Peterson is far ahead of Andy Plumlee. Peterson earned 1,216 ballots, or nearly 77%, while Plumlee has 365 votes.

Bryan Stucky and Barbara Armes, two incumbent members of the Oak Harbor Council, ran unopposed.

In a Coupeville Town Council race, Kristo Allred has 281 votes, or 71.5%, while Brandon Roos has 112 ballots cast in his favor, which is 28.5%. Evan Henrich ran unopposed.

In Langley, Thomas Gill, Dominique Emerson and Savannah Erickson ran unopposed.

In one of the races for a seat on the North Whidbey Fire and Rescue board, Robert Miller has more than 65% while Matthew Nienhuis has nearly 35% of the vote. In the other race, Marv Koorn has 61.5% while Ryan McCarthy has 38.5%.

In the race for a seat on the Central Whidbey Island Fire and Rescue board, Larry Goff has 68% while Christopher Chan has 32%.