A few days ago, counties across Washington began tabulating ballots and reporting results in the state’s 2012 winnowing election.

While the election was largely devoid of drama and suspense (there are almost no races that remain too close to call), there was one surprising trend that characterized the results which I noticed only after spending some time closely analyzing the returns. And that is the consistently strong performance of female candidates. Let me give you some examples.

In Washington’s crowded 1st Congressional District race, three women – Suzan DelBene, Darcy Burner, and Laura Ruderman – together claimed the lion’s share of the Democratic vote. Fellow Democrats Steve Hobbs and Darshan Rauniyar are collectively receiving less than eight percent of the overall vote. DelBene finished far ahead of all of the other Democrats and will face overall top vote-getter Republican John Koster in November.

In the race for Secretary of State, voters picked two women, Democrat Kathleen Drew and Republican Kim Wyman, to go on to November. Wyman had been expected to claim one of the top two spots, but Drew faced strong competition for the other from fellow Democrats Greg Nickels and Jim Kastama. When returns came in, however, Drew was comfortably leading both of them.

Seattle’s two most competitive legislative races, meanwhile, were dominated by women. In the 36th Legislative District (Magnolia, Queen Anne, Ballard and nearby neighborhoods), voters decided to send Seattle Port Commissioner Gael Tarleton and activist Noel Frame to the general election. Tarleton has an impressive 30 percent of the vote, while Frame has just over 20 percent. (Full disclosure: Tarleton serves as the president of the board of the Northwest Progressive Institute, which I founded nearly nine years ago and continue to lead as executive director).

In the 46th Legislative District (Northgate and nearby neighborhoods), voters are sending activists Jessyn Farrell — formerly of the Transportation Choices Coalition — and Sarajane Siegfriedt —chair of the King County Democrats’ Legislative Action Committee — to the general election. They collectively have nearly half of the vote.

Women are also in the lead in two out of our three Supreme Court races. In the contest for Position No. 2, incumbent justice Susan Owens has more than 60 percent of the vote despite having two challengers – an impressive showing. Because she’s capturing more than 50 percent of the vote, she has won reelection to the Supreme Court already and will not need to campaign in November.

In the contest for Position No. 9, the open seat (Justice Tom Chambers is retiring from the bench), Seattle attorney Sheryl Gordon McCloud is well ahead of the three men who are also running. Two of them, Richard Sanders and John Ladenburg, have run statewide before, but surprisingly, it’s possible that neither of them will go on to the general election. Ladenburg, who is trailing in fourth place, seems out for sure, and Sanders may also be eliminated if King County Superior Court Judge Bruce Hilyer (the current third place finisher) overtakes him. Hilyer is only behind Sanders by a few thousand votes, and is doing well in King County, which could put him over the top in the days ahead. It looks like the race for Position No. 9 could be a runoff between McCloud and Hilyer.

In 2004, Washington made history when it elected Chris Gregoire as governor and sent Patty Murray back to the District of Columbia to continue serving alongside Maria Cantwell as our state’s senior senator. As a result of that election, Washington became the first state in America to be exclusively represented by women in the U.S. Senate and the governor’s mansion.

Though our next governor is certain to be a man — Jay Inslee and Rob McKenna are the top two finishers in the gubernatorial race, with Inslee holding a four-percentage point advantage over McKenna statewide — our next Secretary of State is certain to be a woman, which will be a first. And it’s very possible that another woman will be joining our state’s highest court as well.

So what accounts for this trend that we’re seeing? Could it be that voters are tired of U.S. and Washington politics being so dominated by men? Most of our state’s elected leaders are men, as is the case elsewhere in the country. In my view, it’s a good thing if we have a more balanced ratio of women to men in office. Our government should reflect who we are as a society.

Only three months remain until the general election arrives. Ballots will be mailed in mid-October and must be returned by Nov. 6. Enjoy a break from the onslaught of political advertising while you can – within a few weeks, the autumn campaigning will be in full swing.

Andrew Villeneuve, a 2005 Redmond High graduate, is the founder and executive director of the Northwest Progressive Institute, a Redmond-based grassroots organization. Villeneuve can be reached at andrew@nwprogressive.org.