King County voters have hired the current top elections administrator, Sherril Huff, as their first popularly elected director of elections. She’s the former Kitsap County Auditor and is credited with turning around the much-criticized King County elections operation in the wake of the oh-so-close 2004 governor’s race.

Huff has Democratic roots and was endorsed by Democratic County Executive Ron Sims, but under terms of a 2008 County Charter change, the newly created elections post is officially nonpartisan. King County now joins the other 38 counties in having an elected top elections official. In the other counties, the Auditor has that task. 

As of Wednesday morning, Huff had 44 percent of the total vote in a six-person, winner-take-all race. Her closest challengers were prominent Republicans. David Irons, a former County Councilmember and one-time Sims challenger for Executive, had 19 percent and state Sen. Pam Roach was close behind at 17 percent. The rest of the field was in single digits…

Secretary of State Reed, who works closely with the counties, sent congratulations to Huff and pledged strong, continuing ties with the state’s largest county, where nearly a third of the voters live. Although he did not publicly endorse in the race, he has praised the county’s progress on Huff’s watch.

This election, BTW, apparently marked the end of poll-site voting in King County. The county still awaits federal certification of new high-speed tabulation equipment, but intends to conduct all elections by mail, as 37 other counties already do.  The lone holdout: Pierce. 

For a direct peek at King County election numbers, go here.