Incumbent Richard Hildreth held the early lead in his bid for a third term as Pacific mayor.

With only 29 percent of the all-mail-in ballots received by Wednesday afternoon, Hildreth had 268 votes or 35 percent of the count. Challenger John C. Jones, the City Council president, had 190 votes or 25 percent of the vote, according to King County Elections.

Write-in candidates had received 296 votes, 39 percent, of the ballots. It is unknown how many write-in candidates the vote represented. Cy Sun was among those who ran as a write-in candidate.

Only 774 ballots were cast of the 2,591 registered voters in Pacific on Wednesday.

“It’s still too close for my comfort,” Hildreth said of the early returns, “but we’ll find out once all the votes are counted and find out who the write-ins were counted for.”

In Pierce County, Hildreth was leading Jones by a 75-to-25 percent margin.

Incumbent Joshua Putnam held a narrow led over Kevin Cline for City Council Position No. 6, 51 to 47 percent. Putnam led 64 to 35 percent in Pierce County.

Voters were rejecting Pacific’s Proposition No. 1 Levy Lid Lift for Street Improvements by a 74-to-26-percent margin in King County and by a 75-to-25-percent margin in Pierce County.