MOSES LAKE - A preliminary count of votes from Tuesday's Moses Lake Irrigation and Rehabilitation District election show Moses Lake businessman David Skaug leading the race for MLIRD board director by 601 votes.

Skaug received 1,221 of Tuesday's votes, while opponent Ken Kernan, Grant County's former undersheriff, received 620 votes. A total of 1,841 votes were cast in the director's race.

Also on the ballot was a yes or no question, asking if the board of directors should be increased from three directors to five.

According to the initial count, 1,287 'yes' votes were cast, while the 'no' vote received 557 votes.

Mail-in ballots still need to be counted. In past year's MLIRD elections, mail-in ballots accounted for about 2,500 ballots, according to Mick Hansen, the MLIRD board chairman. This year's number of outstanding mail-in ballots was not available by press time.

A total of 1,844 votes were cast for the yes or no question on the ballot.

Results from the preliminary count are not final, said Julie Smith of MLIRD. The district's staff will begin counting absentee ballots on Monday, she said.

Skaug said that although he is currently leading, he is still anxious to find out the final results after absentee ballots are counted next week.

"There's still a lot of ballots left to be counted," he said. "It's still quite up in the air, and I look forward to next Monday."

Kernan said that he wasn't discouraged after hearing the initial vote count, since there were still uncounted votes.

"I'm still optimistic," Kernan said of the race. "I appreciate the clean campaign that David ran, and the support folks have given me."