After a controversial strike ending in a court ruling, Tim Clark, running for the Kent School District director position five, appears to have all but claimed victory for the open seat.

Clark had 62.3 percent of the vote as of Wednesday at 4:30 p.m., and Dale Smith had 37.23 percent of the vote.

This summer Smith withdrew his nomination, because of changes with his employment at Boeing, but it was too late to remove his name from the ballot. Smith said he would not serve if elected.

The official winners won’t be announced until February 24th, but with Clark’s lead this late in the counting process, it’s almost certain he’ll be named winner.

The current director, Sandy Collins, is retiring after 32 years of service.

About 3,700 students in the Kent district have Renton addresses.

As a newspaper staff, we’ve decided not to call some races until more votes are tallied, but Pam Teal has a strong lead over Jim Grossnickle for Renton School District director position number 5.

Pam leads with 55.10 percent of the vote, and Grossnickle has about 44.64 percent of the vote. These numbers reflect the County’s Tuesday night tally release.

Grossnickle is in Atlanta this week for a work conference, but Teal sent me a comment last night.

“I am hopeful that the count will continue to go my way and am looking forward to serving the parents and staff of Renton for the next four years,” Teal said.

In other words, Teal isn’t declaring victory, though chances are slim that Grossnickle will overcome her about 10 percent lead.

About 27.08 percent of the ballots that were sent out have been counted. This percent does not take into account the percent received.

As of Wednesday at 8 p.m., 36.94 percent of the ballots were returned for this election. This number will increase some in the next few days as the United States Postal Service delivers them. However, it’d be surprising if more than 50 percent of registered voters voted in this election.

Grossnickle’s best chance is if New Castle and Bellevue’s votes come in late and strong.

I’m putting together Pam Teal and Jim Grossnickle’s profiles early next week for an elections section. Drop a comment or e-mail me anything you might want to know at cgracey@rentonreporter.com.

You can also tweet me @celestegracey.

Grossnickle and incumbent Teal are both running for the Renton School District board.