Deborah Kilgore was leading two other challengers in the race for the vacant Edmonds School District Director Position 4 seat, according to the first day of primary election results from the Snohomish County Auditor’s Office, which were released at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 1.

A University of Washington researcher, Kilgore was far ahead of her two challengers, receiving 6,994 votes or 44 percent. Candidate Cindy Sackett, director of operations for the Washington Alliance for Better Schools, came in second with 4,446 votes, or 28 percent, and Cathy Baylor, a piano teacher who previously headed the school district’s Indian Education program, was just behind Sackett with 4,280 votes, or 27 percent.

“I’m very grateful that people got our message and I’m looking forward to a general election,” Kilgore said. She thanked her opponents “for making me a better candidate” and also gave a shout-out to her campaign volunteers, her husband Rick and her three children “for their support and hard work.”

The three candidates are running to replace retiring board member Susan Phillips. The top two vote getters in the primary qualify for the Nov. 7 general-election ballot.

Dstrict 4 straddles Highway 99 in the central part of the school district. School board candidates must live in the director district that they wish to represent, but residents of the entire Edmonds School District vote to elect board members representing all five director districts. The Edmonds School District includes Edmonds, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Woodway, part of Brier and unincorporated areas near those municipalities.

In addition to the Edmonds School Board position, Mountlake Terrace residents also voted for County Council — District 4. This appeared on the primary ballot even though only two people ran because it is a partisan position. County Council positions and other partisan positions appear on both the primary and the general-election ballot even if there are only one or two candidates.

As of Tuesday, Democratic candidate Terry Ryan held the lead with 9,999 votes, or 67.84 percent voter support. His opponent, Republican candidate Marcus Barton, secured 4,704 votes, or 31.91 percent.

You can see all the results from the Aug. 1 vote count here. An updated count will be released at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 2.