A pretty bizarre result out of the Lewis County elections — Napavine may have elected a dead man as their new area fire district commissioner.

Tom Crowson, who died on July 27th at the age of 73, still leads Rick LeBoeuf by 31 votes for one of the commissioner positions at Lewis County Fire District 5 — despite everyone knowing of his passing.

Crowson, a longtime firefighter who served as District 5 commissioner from 2015 to 2021, finished first in the primary by a wide margin on August 5th. There is a method to the madness in this race — the county Republicans encouraged voters to still vote for Crowson after his death so that the other fire commissioners could appoint someone other than his opponent to the seat.