The uncertainty about how a Manchester-area Republican precinct officer seat will be filled has been resolved, according to Delores Gilmore, Kitsap County auditor: It will be up to the county Republican Party chair to decide.

The acting chair is Heather George, who is a member of the organization’s central committee.

The dilemma was generated when the race for the “Nebraska 223” Republican precinct committee chair was inadvertently left off the Aug. 2 primary ballot. Gilmore stated that a ruling on how to proceed to select a candidate would be made by either Kitsap County’s prosecuting attorney or the Secretary of State. On Aug. 15, Gilmore said she sent a letter to the two candidates, Christopher Binns and Philip Paquette Jr., notifying them the county prosecutor had ruled that the Republican Party chair would decide who would become precinct officer.

“It was my hope that we could hold a special election in conjunction with the Nov. 8 general election,” Gilmore wrote to the candidates. But she was advised that a state law specifies that a contested election for precinct committee officer must be voted on at the time of the primary election in each even-numbered year.

“If such an election were to be held at any other time, even under the present circumstances, it is extremely likely that the election result would be void.”

Prior to that decision, Gilmore said last week that the county elections division was considering having a special election just for voters in the Nebraska 233 precinct.

Also under state law was a provision that the omission of the race from the August ballot must be treated as a “failure to elect” a Republican precinct committee officer for the Nebraska 223 precinct. And in that case, state law stipulates that the party chairman is to appoint a person to fill the position.

Heather George, who is acting chairman of the county Republican committee, has been queried about the decision but hasn’t yet responded.