Following in the footsteps of voters nationwide, Island County voters leaned left on Election Day and sided with Democrats in several contentious races for county government.

Democrat John Dean, the former editor and associate publisher of the Stanwood Camano News, was handily beating incumbent Republican Bill Byrd in the race for Island County commissioner, District 3. Dean claimed 58 percent of the vote in early vote tallies.

In the open race for county assessor, Democrat Dave Mattens had claimed 55 percent of the vote against his Republican rival Don Mason.

Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks is also winning his bid for a third term, according to early election tallies.

The Democrat incumbent enjoyed an early lead over Republican challenger Steve Selby, his former chief deputy. Banks has 8,644 votes to Selby’s 7.893 votes, and Banks leads with 52 percent of the vote.

Democrat Linda Riffe, the incumbent county treasurer, was easily beating Republican challenger John Morrow. Riffe had 62 percent of the vote locked up in early election returns.

One race remained too close to call.

State Rep. Barbara Bailey has just a five-vote advantage over Democrat challenger Tim Knue for the District 10, Position 2 seat in the state House of Representatives.

Bailey, the Republican incumbent, has 13,383 votes to Knue’s 13,378 – or 50.0093 percent of the vote to 49.9907 percent.

Knue expected a tight race.

“We knew it would be; she was a tough incumbent to go against,” he said.

Mark Brown was one of the few bright spots for Republicans. Brown was winning in a landslide over Jay Wallace for Island County sheriff, with Brown claiming 68 percent of the vote.

Brown advanced to the general election after a three-candidate primary to face Wallace, a former sheriff deputy who was fired after a 911-call controversy earlier this year. Wallace changed parties and jumped onto the Democrat ticket just before the primary after getting lackluster support from his fellow Republicans.

Initiative 933, the “Property Fairness Initiative,” that would require state and local governments to compensation property owners when regulations damage the use or value of private property, was falling to defeat across the state and in Island County.

Statewide, 57 percent of voters were voting against I-933, while 42 percent were voting yes. In Island County, the rejection was even more lopsided: Almost 66 percent were voting no on I-933, while 34 percent of voters were voting to approve the controversial measure, according to early election results.

Democrats began their celebration early on election night. Mattens and Knue gathered with other Democrats at the Bayview Cash Store, where more than 100 people had come to witness “change in the making.” On projector screens, people watched CNN updates and celebrated every time a Democratic candidate led in the vote.

The crowed cheered for Sen. Maria Cantwell as early vote counts predicted a solid lead.

They enthusiastically applauded when numbers indicated I-933 failing in Island County.

And when the first numbers were announced in the county assessor’s race, the weight of weeks of non-stop campaigning seemed to fall off Matten’s shoulders. With close to 56 percent in early counts, he had a clear lead on Mason.

But Mattens was humble.

“I am happy,” Mattens said. “I am very happy.”

Minutes after 8 p.m., Banks and his supporters hovered in front of a computer, waiting for local vote counts to be released online.

As the minutes ticked by, the suspense heightened. Finally, the first numbers from Island County rolled in and it looked good for the incumbent.

“I felt relieved,” Banks said.

It had been a tough campaign with character attacks and harsh criticism by challenger Selby.

“It shows that people appreciated our campaign. We stuck to facts and our record. We didn’t resort to anonymous e-mails and other smear campaign tactics,” Banks said.

The next update in the vote count is 4 p.m. Thursday. The official, final tally will be released on Nov. 28.

Complete election results for Island County are available on the county auditor’s Website at http://www.islandcounty.net/auditor/election%20results.htm.