Primary election concludes

by Justyna Tomtas/Valley Press
| June 12, 2014 11:32 AM

SANDERS COUNTY – Election results from the primary election held on Tuesday, June 3 came in the early morning hours of Wednesday.

For the local elections, James Manley came out ahead of Mark Russell with 1503 votes to 936 votes. In the non-partisan election, both will continue on to the general election in November.

In the three-way non-partisan race for Sanders County Coroner, incumbent Kathy Harris led with 1219 votes, just 75 votes ahead of Wayne Egbert who had 1144 votes. Becky Kelly McDonald brought in 446 votes.

For county treasurer and superintendent of schools, incumbent Carol P. Turk led with 1,773 votes, with Jenny Williams following with 1,173 votes.

Donald M. Strine led the justice of the peace race with over 1,300 votes, tallying up a grand total of 2,122 votes, while opponent Mark T. French brought in 807 votes.

A number of candidates were unopposed and for county commissioner A. Ben “Tony” Cox brought in 2662 votes, while Nichol Scribner brought in 2,383 votes for the county clerk position. Sheriff Tom Rummel was also unopposed and brought in 2,545 votes in all, while Sanders County Attorney Robert L. Zimmerman had 2,289 votes.

Four local government reviews were also on the ballot, although voters approved only one of them. A government review is available on the ballot every 10 years and weighs whether or not citizens would like to fund a review of their local government.

The Hot Springs local government review passed with one vote tipping the scales. In all 41 were in favor, while 40 were against. The Sanders County local government review was denied with 1,795 voters against the review and 876 for. As for Plains, the review did not pass with 152 against and 89 for. The review of the local government in Thompson Falls was also not passed with 170 against and 119 for the review.

In the race for state representative for House District 13, Bob Brown edged out Katy Walton with 857 votes. Walton brought in 552 votes in all.

Nick Schwaderer brought in 667 votes for House District 14. Democrat Terry Caldwell beat out Lloyd Wilkins with 164 votes, while Weylin Achatz, also a democrat; beat Gerald Joseph Cuvillier with 332 votes.

Republican Matt Rosendale edged out his competition for a two-year term as the United States representative. He brought in 911 votes, followed by Ryan Zinke with 690. Lewis took the lead for the democrats with 373 votes in all. Steve Daines won by a landslide for the Republican Party to be the United States senator with 1810 votes. His closest opponent had 202 votes and was Champ Edmunds. Democrat John Walsh who filed for United States senator led with 482 votes.

All elected candidates will start a new term of office in January 2015. Those who ran unopposed will keep their position and carry on with their duties as usual.