Big turnout for generals

Voters approve museum district while countywide turnover more than 100 percent

While other states are still counting votes days after November 3, the results in Carbon County were finalized on November 4. With more than 100 percent turnout, Carbon County Clerk Gwynn Bartlett said that, while it wasn’t a record turnout, it was a great turnout for the county.

In Saratoga, voters overwhelmingly approved the formation of the Saratoga-Ryan Park Museum District while, in Medicine Bow, enough write-in candidates accepted their ballot nominations to ensure a quorum of the Medicine Bow Town Council in January.

Presidential Election

As the nation held its breath and frantically refreshed their election results page, Carbon County followed most of Wyoming in overwhelmingly favoring incumbent President Donald Trump. Trump received 5,014 votes, or 75.24 percent of votes in Carbon County. Former Vice President Joe Biden, meanwhile, received 1,427 votes, or 21.41 percent of votes in the county.

In fact, of all the counties in Wyoming, the two that did not go for Trump were Albany County and Teton County, with the former casting more than 9,000 votes for Biden and the latter casting nearly 10,000 votes for the former vice president.

As states such as Nevada, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Wisconsin continued to count their votes, Governor Mark Gordon took to social media to issue a statement about the long process.

“American Democracy has never been effortless. Nor should it be,” wrote Gordon. “Voting is one of our country’s most precious rights. People care that we get this election right. Every citizen’s vote matters and needs to be properly counted. Wyoming has done that well.”

Gordon added that, with all the country has seen in 2020, he was not surprised that it would take time to declare a winner in the Presidential election before thanking Secretary of State Ed Buchanan and Wyoming’s county clerks for “organizing such a successful election.”

United States Senator

Regardless of who would have won, Wyoming made history in that it elected its first woman Senator in state history. Former representative Cynthia Lummis had beat out a crowded field during the 2020 Primary Election to represent the Republican party while climate scientist and University of Wyoming professor Merav Ben David represented the Democratic party.

Lummis easily carried Carbon County with 5,091 votes, or 77.7 percent. Ben David, meanwhile, had 1,441 votes cast for her, or approximately 22 percent. The only county in which Ben David overtook Lummis was Teton County, which cast almost 4,000 more votes for the Democratic candidate. Carbon County did appear to follow another statewide trend in that more votes were cast for Ben David than there were registered Democrats.

United States Representative

Incumbent Representative Liz Cheney sailed to a 3rd term in the House of Representatives as she beat out three challengers for the seat. With 4,644 in Carbon County, Cheney beat out Democratic challenger Lynnette Grey Bull, who received 1,337 votes in the county. Libertarian Richard Brubaker received 313 votes and Constitutional candidate Jeff Haggit received 204 votes.

Again, a trend in Carbon County seen across the state is that Grey Bull received more votes than there were registered Democrats as of November 3. The only county in which Grey Bull overtook Lummis was Teton County.

House District 15

Incumbent Representative Donald Burkhart secured re-election with 2,052 votes compared to 1,144 votes for Democratic challenger Jacquelin Wells. While the representative for House District 15 was successful, his son Matthew Burkhart was less so as he was beat out by Democratic candidate Trey Sherwood in House District 14 in Albany County.

House District 47

Representative Jerry Paxton will return to the Wyoming Legislature in January, having beat out three challengers during the 2020 Primary Election with a plurality of the votes and beating out challenger Libertarian Lela Konecny on November 3. In Carbon County, Paxton secured 2,505 votes while Konecny had only 767 cast for her. For the whole district, Paxton had 3,282 votes cast for him while Konecny saw 886 cast for her.

Konecny was the first Libertarian candidate to challenge Paxton since 2012, when Paxton first ran for House District 47. During that election, Hanna resident Michael Hendricks received 609 votes in Carbon County and only 747 in the district.

Carbon County Commissioner

With no challengers in the General Election, all three incumbent commissioners retook their seats on the Board of Carbon County Commissioners. John Espy received 4,515 votes, Byron Barkhurst received 4,012 votes and Sue Jones received 3,778 votes.

Saratoga Town Council

Creed James and Benjamin Spaulding will take their seats on the Saratoga Town Council in January, which are currently held by Councilmember Judy Welton and Councilmember D’Ron Campbell. Both were appointed to the council to fill unexpired terms. James received 584 votes while Spaulding received 402 votes. 

Danny Burau received 359 votes from Saratoga voters while Tasha Worthington received half of Spaulding’s votes with 201.

Encampment Town Council

Incumbent Bill Craig will remain on the council, having received 165 votes, and will be joined by Stas Banach, who received 158 votes. Matthew Wagy received 99 votes.

Riverside Town Council

In Riverside, Mark Helwick received 37 votes to stay on the Riverside Town Council. While he ran in the 2020 Primary Election, he was appointed to one of the open positions. Helwick will be joined by Dean Webb, who received 4 write-in votes out of 11 total votes that were cast.

Hanna Town Council

Jayson Nordquist and Wlliam Dys will be seated on the Hanna Town Council in January, as Nordquist received 146 votes and Dys received 129 votes. John Klemola was a close 3rd as he gathered 121 votes while WM Carey Lake received 112 votes.

Elk Mountain Town Council

In Elk Mountain, Angie Hobbs kept her seat on the town council as she took 83 votes. Joining Hobbs will be Tammy Page, who won 64 votes. Jessica Mustard, whose husband Craig Mustard is currently on the council, received 21 votes.

Medicine Bow Town Council and Mayor

The Town of Medicine Bow will have a quorum of their town council in January thanks to last minute write-in votes. Sharon Biamon received 75 votes and will finish out the unexpired two-year term she was appointed to in 2019. Lucina Schofield, with 84 votes, will finish a two-year unexpired term on the Medicine Bow Town Council. Joining her will be Trevor Stauch, who will fill the other two-year unexpired term. With the two four year terms, Cynthia Chase and Sharon Kahl will take their seats in January.

Saratoga-Ryan Park Museum District

Voters within the proposed boundaries of the Saratoga-Ryan Park Museum district overwhelmingly approved formation of the district on November 3 with 1,014 votes for and 298 votes against. Sitting on the special district board will be Connie Patterson, Terri Winter, Wilbur Roger Snell, Sherry MacKay, Mark Shipp and Vickie Stolns. The latter is the only write-in candidate for the museum district board.

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 
Rendered 02/24/2024 23:48