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The recent Joint Primary Elections in Colorado County saw over 5,000 residents hit the polls at their respective polling locations. The final voting numbers were released along with the unofficial results from the Elections Department.
There were 5,098 total voters who participated in the election process that concluded on March 5. More than half of those voters made their decisions prior to Election Day with 2,547 residents voting during the early portion that began on Feb. 20 and 2,428 residents waiting until the March 5 election. Between the two parties, 4,758 republicans voted while just 340 democrats participated in their respective primary elections.
All in all, the 5,098 total voters are a relatively small amount of the total registered voters in the county as 14,453 people were eligible vote in the recent election; just 35% made it out to the polls.
There was a varying amount of participants for each position up for election during the March 5 primaries.
There were 3,569 people who voted in the County Attorney election for the lone candidate Jay Johannes. 1,794 of those voters submitted their ballots during early voting.
Other uncontested elections had a smaller turnout due to involving just portions of the county. The Precinct 3 County Commissioner incumbent Keith Neuendorff continues to keep his post after receiving all 1,383 votes. 699 voters participated in the early voting period. The constables in Precincts 1, 2 and 3 each were uncontested as the incumbent candidates were the only people on the ballot.
Richard Lacourse for Precinct 1, Lonnie Hinze for Precinct 2 and Ivan Menke for Precinct 3 each had 907 votes, 949 votes and 1,411 votes respectively.
The Constable for Precinct 4 was one of the contested elections with Darrell Stancik winning with 80% of the vote. He took 541 of the 676 voters. Challenger Adrian Flores had 20% of the vote with 135 votes. 372 voters made their selections during early voting.
Precinct 1 County Commissioner was the only contested Commissioner election. Shannon Owers won the election with 66% of 1,019 total voters. Owers finished with 672 votes. His opponent Rueben Taylor finished with 347 votes for 34%. 440 residents voted early in this election.
The Sheriff’s election had the highest participation rate of any election in the county. The total number of votes cast was 4,656. Candidate Justin Lindemann won the election with around 61% of the vote with 2,831 voters selecting him to become Sheriff. Candidate Wendy Alley finished with 39% of the vote with 1,825 votes. In the early voting period, 2,344 residents submitted their votes in this election.
Tax Assessor-Collector had the next-highest totals for elections in the county with 4,392 total voters. Leading candidate Melinda A. Zajicek took the lead with over 44% of the vote after being selected by 1,956 voters. Incumbent Erica Kollaja was not far behind with 1,782 votes for over 40% of the vote. Bruce Besch earned 654 votes for nearly 15% of the total voters. More voters selected in this election during early voting: 2,387 voters selected during the period.
The Justice of the Peace election for Precinct 3 saw Donald Clark take a lead with nearly 38 % of the vote after taking 596 of the 1,576 total votes. Bennie Zajicek was next with nearly 32% with 503 votes. Will Schneider followed shortly behind with just over 30% after getting 477 votes. Early voting had 814 participants.
