EPHRATA — Preliminary election results show Grant County Assessor Candidate Anson Bartrand leading over challenger Clayton Johnson, but both candidates say the race remains far from decided as thousands of ballots remain uncounted.

As of the Nov. 3 count, Bartrand received 7,152 votes to Johnson's 5,195. However, Election Coordinator Rebecca Pettingill said Wednesday afternoon that election workers still had about 7,000 ballots in the office awaiting processing and estimated that roughly 15,000 ballots remain to be counted countywide before certification.

“If we're going to be anywhere near where we were in 2022, which we're still on kind of track to be, we'll probably process another 15,000 ballots before the end of the election,” Pettingill said.

Because of the large number of outstanding ballots, the race remains too close to officially call. Election results will remain unofficial until Grant County certifies the election Nov. 24.

Bartrand, who entered the race as a write-in candidate before advancing to the general election, said he was encouraged by the early returns.

“I was ecstatic when I saw the results,” Bartrand said.

The challenger said he has already begun thinking about the transition should his lead hold through certification.

“I know that there's a lot to do,” he said. “My goal is to reach out to (current assessor) Melissa McKnight and hopefully try to see if I can get some things going so that I can hit the ground running.”

Bartrand campaigned on bringing a business-oriented approach to the office, citing his background in finance and management. If elected, he said one of his first priorities would be creating a customer-service-focused culture.

“One of my initial goals is perhaps a culture change,” Bartrand said. “I want to make sure that we're there serving the taxpayers, responding to them and doing everything that we can to be as efficient as possible.”

He said the preliminary results suggest voters want stronger representation from the assessor's office.