Cox, Iversen win primary

Republican Tony Cox and Democrat Cindy Iversen both claimed victories in the race for District 3 County Commissioner in last Tuesday’s primary.

Cox, a Montana Highway Patrol Trooper, won the Republican primary decisively with 1,299 votes, which was 59 percent of the vote. Cox’s closest opponent in the election was Bill Naegeli, who received 19 percent or 429 votes, Dieter Scholz got 14 percent of the vote with 308 votes and Vic Hayes received 5 percent or 125 votes.

Cox will face off against Iversen Tuesday, Nov. 4 in the general election. The Noxon business owner defeated Howard Bakke 51 percent to 45 percent. She received 675 votes compared to Bakke’s 602.

Iversen said she was feeling very excited after her win, but stressed that this was a time to get busy and not to relax.

“I’m really going to make an effort to get to this end of the county,” Iversen said. “It is about a 200-mile round trip from Noxon, but it’s important I get down here.”

Iversen said she feels very welcome throughout the county and is looking forward to continuing her campaign.

“I’m going to be a hard-working commissioner,” she said. “I’m going to work 24/7, because I have both the time and the energy.”

The creation of planning board was defeated by a 7-percent margin, 53 percent to 46 percent. There were 1,857 votes cast against the creation of the planning board and 1,593 votes cast in favor of it.

According to the official ballot, Sanders County is one of the 12 counties in Montana that has seen a large increase in population growth over the past 10 years. The planning board would be used as an advisory group to the board of commissioners and elected officials. The purpose of the planning board would be to improve the health, welfare, safety and convenience of the residents of Sanders County and they would help to plan for future development, according to the official ballot.

In the race for Montana Senate District 7, Democrat Paul Clark beat out Judy Stang. Clark received 52 percent of the vote in the three-county race. He will face Republican Greg Hinkle in November. Hinkle defeated Sylvia Bookout-Reinicke 68 percent to 32 percent. There were a total of 1,498 votes cast for Clark and 1,383 votes cast for Stang. Hinkle received 1,885 votes and Reinicke received 875 votes.

Hinkle carried all three counties, Sanders, Mineral and Missoula, while Clark carried Sanders. Stang carried both Mineral and Missoula counties.

Sue Cooperman and Donald Strine will be the two choices for Justice of the Peace in the fall election. Cooperman received 47 percent of the vote, with 1,597 votes being cast for her. Strine received 38 percent of the vote with 1,301 votes being cast for him and David “Scott” Johnson received 14 percent of the vote with 476 votes being cast for him.

The Thompson Falls Library mill levy passed with 67 percent of the vote and 856 votes were cast in its favor. There were 410 votes cast against the mill levy, which was 32 percent of the vote.

The Thompson Falls Library mill levy was designed to raise money for the operation and improvement of the Thompson Falls Public Library. The levy will raise the current five-mill levy to a seven-mill levy. It would cost a homeowner with a home valued at $100,000 around $3.97 per year, and would gain an estimated $23,851 to use toward the library.

Voters also passed the senior/aging sevices mill levy, which focused on raising funds for elderly programs and services and would help to maintain the operation of aging services, including transporation, nutritional and other programs, and senior citizen centers in Sanders County, according to the official ballot.

This was the largest of the two levies that were proposed at three mills. It would cost the owner of a home valued at $100,000 an estimated $5.96 per year and would raise an estimated $90,069. It is a permanent increase and will raise the current 2.39 mills to 5.39 mills.

Voters in Sanders County voted for the permanent increase 57 percent to 42 percent. This came to 2,021 votes in favor and 1,477 against.

On the national level, Democrats in Sanders County cast their vote for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., as he received 51 percent of the vote over Sen. Hillary Clinton’s, D-N.Y., 43 percent of the vote. Sen. Obama also won the state of Montana.

Republicans voted 65 percent for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., over Congressman Ron Paul, R-Texas. Paul received 29 percent of the vote in Sanders County.

Fifty-Five percent of the county’s 7,165 registered voters cast a ballot in the primary. Sanders County Clerk and Recorder Jennine Robbins said the 3,942 votes cast were fewer than expected, even though it was nearly 1,000 more than in the 2006 primary. In the 2006 election, 2,979 votes were cast.