COEUR d'ALENE - The Kootenai County Republican Central Committee has selected three nominees to fill the Kootenai County Clerk's position vacated last week when Clerk Cliff Hayes died unexpectedly.

The committee had eight nominees to choose from and voted by secret ballot to narrow the field to three. Jim Brannon received 31 votes for the top spot, Bjorn Handeen received 28 votes for second place and Dean Isaacson garnered third place with 25 votes.

Jeff Ward, of the Reagan Republicans came in fourth with 17 votes. Pat Raffee, chief deputy county clerk, got 14 votes for fifth place. Former County Commissioner Rick Currie also got 14 votes, but came in sixth on a weighted formula used to break ties.

Former state Sen. Jim Hammond got 10 votes for seventh. Anita Banta received three votes for eighth place.

Each candidate was given three minutes to speak before nearly 50 committee members cast their votes one by one in a private room. The candidates voted for their first, second and third choices using red, white and blue chips to signify their preference.

Of Brannon's 31 votes, 27 of them were first-choice red chips. Isaacson's 25 votes contained 19 second-choice white chips, and out of 28 votes for Handeen, 22 were third-choice blue chips.

By state law, the central committee had 15 days to select three nominees to put before the Kootenai County commissioners, who will ultimately select Hayes' replacement.

Commissioner Todd Tondee attended the central committee meeting Thursday night and explained the process they will use today to select the replacement.

"We have scheduled a meeting at 3:30 p.m. to go through these candidates," he told the committee. "They will each speak for 10 minutes and then we will have some questions for them."

Tondee said he hoped the commissioners would be able to make the appointment today, but if not, the meeting will be tabled until Jan. 3, which by law is the last business day commissioners have to select a replacement. Jan. 4, a Saturday, is technically the last day commissioners have to select a replacement.

If commissioners cannot select a replacement, the central committee will select one of the three nominees to fill the position.

The person who is selected will serve out the remainder of Hayes' term, which ends Dec. 31, 2014.