Final digits — Weston County certifies primary results; state canvas set for Wednesday
Amanda Sharpes greets people at the front tables in the Weston County Event Center to help them find which precinct table they need to go to in order to receive the correct ballot for the Wyoming Primary Election on Tuesday, Aug. 18.
*Editor's note: The sidebar has been updated to correct the number of votes for precinct committeemen in precinct 5-1. The News Letter Journal will have a follow up story explaining the necessary hand count and new vote totals.
Weston County’s three incumbent commissioners secured the Republican nominations for another term as official local results from the Aug. 18 primary election confirmed the outcome reported on election night.
Garrett Borton led the seven-candidate Weston County Commission field with 1,227 votes, followed by Nathan Todd with 1,156 and Vera Huber with 1,002. The three incumbents claimed the three available Republican nominations.
Allen Sage finished fourth with 699 votes, followed by Don Taylor with 563, Gillian Sears with 507 and Henry Nessul with 283.
The results came from 2,270 ballots cast in Weston County, including 2,197 Republican ballots, 53 Democratic ballots and 20 nonpartisan ballots.
Incumbent Sheriff Bryan Colvard also held off challenger Susan Bridge in the Republican primary. Colvard received 1,274 votes, or about 60%, compared with Bridge’s 852.
Amber Green, who was appointed Weston County clerk earlier this month following the resignation of Mike Tooman, won the Republican nomination for the office. Tooman had previously withdrawn from the race but still received 280 votes.
Several other county officials were unopposed in the Republican primary. Treasurer Susan Overman received 1,870 votes, Assessor Kara Lenardson received 1,878, Coroner Scott E. Beachler received 1,866, County Attorney Michael Stulken received 1,470 and Clerk of District Court Riki Kaiser received 1,814.
In Newcastle, John C. Butts received 444 votes, Don Steveson received 447 and Wyatt Voelker received 589 in the City Council race. All three were seeking the three available council seats.
In Upton, Tiffany McMillan received 232 votes for mayor. Joe Watt received 230 votes for Upton Town Council.
Legislative races
Weston County voters helped decide contested Republican primaries in Senate District 1 and House District 1.
In Senate District 1, Ogden Driskill defeated Chip Neiman district wide, 2,923 votes to 2,705, according to unofficial Wyoming Secretary of State results. Weston County favored Driskill, 617-356. Campbell County also favored Driskill, while Neiman carried Crook County.
Troy Claycomb won the Republican nomination in House District 1 over Zeta Nuckolls Anderson. District wide, Claycomb received 2,329 votes to Anderson’s 1,380. In Weston County, the margin was 710-247.
Republican Sen. Cheri Steinmetz was unopposed in Senate District 3, receiving 4,438 votes district wide, including 905 in Weston County.
Rep. JD Williams was also unopposed for the Republican nomination in House District 2. Williams received 2,314 votes district wide, including 946 in Weston County.
Unlike the county results, Wyoming’s statewide and legislative results remain unofficial until they are reviewed by the Wyoming State Canvassing Board. The Secretary of State’s Office continues to list the Aug. 18 results as unofficial.
Statewide and federal races
In the Republican race for governor, Eric Barlow led statewide with 58,820 votes, ahead of Megan Degenfelder with 38,739, Brent Bien with 30,843 and Curt Blake with 2,161.
Weston County also favored Barlow, giving him 1,138 votes to Degenfelder’s 541, Bien’s 454 and Blake’s 25.
Kenneth Casner was the only Democratic candidate for governor. He received 10,706 votes statewide, 48 of those from Weston County.
Harriet Hageman won the Republican U.S. Senate primary with 83,794 votes statewide. Sam Mead finished second with 35,875, followed by Jimmy Skovgard with 3,525, Jill Edwards with 3,431 and John Holtz with 2,539. Weston County voters gave Hageman 1,336 votes and Mead 640.
James Byrd led Billy Benavidez 9,589-2,497 in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary. Weston County contributed 40 votes for Byrd and 10 for Benavidez.
In the crowded Republican race for Wyoming’s lone U.S. House seat, Chuck Gray led statewide with 31,222 votes. Steve Friess followed with 25,054 and Kevin Christensen with 21,632. Other candidates included Jillian Balow (12,590), Reid Rasner (10,807), David Giralt (10,130), Bo Biteman (6,255), Keith Goodenough (3,341) and Richard Dodson (1,777).
In Weston County, however, Christensen led with 590 votes, followed by Gray with 526, Friess with 285, Jillian Balow with 117, Reid Rasner with 171, David Giralt with 151, Bo Biteman with 78, Keith Goodenough with 35 and Richard Dodson with 20.
Lisa Kinney led Elena Del Real 9,343-2,657 in the Democratic U.S. House race. Weston County contributed 39 votes to Kinney and 13 to Del Real.
Robert Short led the Republican secretary of state contest with 53,314 votes statewide, ahead of Rachel Williams with 38,567, CJ Young with
17,846 and Qwenton Eagle Oviatt with 7,087. Short also carried Weston County with 997 votes followed by Rachel Williams with 647 votes, CJ Young with 206 votes and Qwenton Eagle Oviatt with 89 votes.
The lone Democratic candidate for secretary of state, Bryan McCarty received 11,207 votes, 47 of those from Weston County.
State Treasurer Curt Meier led Scott Smith 78,702-36,613 statewide, with Weston County contributing 1,371 votes to Meier’s total and 539 to Smith’s final tally.
In the superintendent of public instruction race, Steve Harshman led the Republican race with 67,784 votes. Tom Kelly received 36,624 and Chad Auer received 12,636. Weston accounted for 1,232 of Harshman’s vote followed by 505 for Kelly and 188 for Auer.
Democratic candidates included Ava Cordova with 7,300 votes and Sergio Maldonado Sr. with 4,314 votes. From Weston County, Cordova received 37 votes to Maldonado’s 12.
Kristi Racines ran unopposed for the state auditor seat, receiving 107,024 votes. She received 1,731 votes in Weston County.
The Wyoming State Canvassing Board is scheduled to meet Wednesday, Aug. 26, at 10 a.m. in the Capitol Complex Auditorium in Cheyenne to review results for statewide and legislative offices. The board, chaired by Secretary of State Chuck Gray, also includes Gov. Mark Gordon, State Auditor Kristi Racines and State Treasurer Curt Meier. The board will examine precinct-by-precinct results, write-in candidates and the winning candidates in each partisan primary before certifying the results.
Wyoming’s county canvassing boards certify their county results before those results are submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office. The state election calendar set Aug. 21 as the deadline for county canvassing boards to certify county abstracts.
Weston County’s official primary results also determined Republican precinct committeemen and committeewomen.
Precinct 1-1
Committeeman — Jon Tidyman, 236*; Rick Wehri, 199*; Ted Ertman, 166; Allen Slagle, 126; Michael Chad Sears 66; Kenneth Hoffman, 55
Committeewoman — Megan Stith, 272*; Marty Ertman, 236*; Ann Slagle, 157; Gillian Sears, 129
Precinct 1-2
Committeeman — Bill Lambert, 239*; Ed Wagoner, 191*; Tom Wing, 65; Mike Tooman, 57
Committeewoman — Marcia Lambert, 209*; Jill Pischke, 207*; Kari Drost, 100
Precinct 2-1
Committeeman — Clay Branscom, 80*; Dean Rightnowar, 19.
Committeewoman — Charlene Haynes, 70*; Joely Rightnowar, 27.
Precinct 3-1
Committeeman — Curtis Rankin, 179*
Committeewoman — Roxie Taft, 127*; Karol Holland, 53
Precinct 4-1
Committeeman — Nathan Todd, 257*; Cody Barritt, 244*
Committeewoman — Chelsie Todd, 268*; Ragina Barritt, 217*
Precinct 5-1
Committeeman — Matt Conzelman, 147*; Scott W. Johnson, 133; Benjamin Roberts, 16.
Committeewoman — Kim Conzelman, 161*; Teresa Gross, 143.
Precinct 5-2
Committeeman — Robert W. Akers, 127*; John G. Butts, 82.
Committeewoman — Joanna Akers, 149*; Sue Slagle-Mireles, 65.
Precinct 5-3
Committeeman — Kolby Pisciotti, 142*; Jason Jenkins, 131*; James Burrough, 93
Committeewoman — Riki Kaiser, 146*, Suzanne Burrough 107*; Tanya-Marie Foote, 96
* indicates the winner of each race. Some precincts are vote for two candidates while others are one candidate.
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