Smith Brower wins commissioner race, Doyle earns Republican nod
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Voters turned out at a tepid rate for Tuesday’s Primary election on June 8. Overall voter turnout was 29.36 percent of registered voters in Lake County.
Despite the mild voter turnout, there were several hotly contested races in the primaries, particularly for the county commissioner seat and for the sheriff’s job, according to the unofficial election results posted by the Lake County Election Office on Wednesday. It should also be noted that some races, including House Districts 9 and 11, and Senate Districts 5 and 8, do not reflect all votes since some are polled in other counties.
In local county races, Ann Smith Brower won a four-way Republican race for the county commissioner’s seat for District 2, which is being vacated by Chuck Whitson. With no Democrat in the race, she’s assured the job by being uncontested in the November General election. Smith Brower earned 43.65 percent of the votes (1,651) to win a clear victory over Ron Merwin at 31.70 percent (1,199). Roy Anderson followed at 13.64 percent (516 votes) and Paul Tryon got 10.81 percent (409).
In another other closely watched race, current Undersheriff Jay Doyle beat out two other Republican challengers to win that party’s race for the Lake County Sheriff’s seat by just 146 votes. The sheriff’s job is being vacated by retiring Sheriff Lucky Larson. Doyle got 1,729 votes to edge Jeff Kingery, who received 1,583 votes. Art Walgren, a Ronan city police officer, was a distant third with 502 votes. Doyle will face Democrat Dan Yonkin and Independent Steven Kendley in the November General election.
In state races, incumbent Janna Taylor easily won her House District 11 primary bid against Republicans J. Garth Cox and Josh King. Taylor racked up 71.38 percent of the votes, with 1,075 to Cox’s 278 and King’s 151. Taylor is assured reelection since she is unopposed on the November ballot.
Ronan’s Dan Salomon also cruised to a win in the House District 12 race for the Republican’s spot, with 862 votes to John Swenson’s 517. Salomon will face Democrat incumbent John Fleming of St. Ignatius, who was unopposed in his primary.
Joey Jayne won the majority of Lake County votes in the Democrat’s race for the Senate District 8 seat, tallying 199 votes to Shannon Augare’s 57. However, poll results do not reflect other county voting in the district, which stretches north to Browning. The Democrat winner will face Ronan’s Rick Jennison, who was unopposed on the Republican ballot.
Lake County voting indicates James Steele, Jr. also beat out incumbent Frosty Calf Boss Ribs for the Democrat spot on the ballot for the House District 15 race, with 165 votes to Boss Rib’s 74. However, the district also stretches to Browning and no other polling numbers from out of Lake County were available at press time. The winner will face Republican Joe Read, who was unopposed in the primary.
County voters also defeated a road maintenance mill levy with 1,704 votes against it and only 1,506 votes for it. The levy, proposed by county commissioners, would have added additional revenue to fund new road maintenance vehicles and additional road work.
A total of 5,183 voters cast their vote in Lake County. Absentee ballots represented 33.6 percent of the total votes cast in Lake County, a growing trend in the state.
Of those who voted, 80.24 percent voted on the Republican ballot, while 19.76 percent voted on the Democrat ballot.
For complete results of Lake County voting, visit www.valleyjournal.net.
