Primary election: Voters head to polls today

Posted 8/16/16

Locally, Park County voters will cast ballots for candidates running for Congress, the state Legislature, the Park County Commission and Powell mayor, among other races.

Primary elections are generally a partisan affair, where Republican, …

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Primary election: Voters head to polls today

Posted

While no races will officially be decided in today’s (Tuesday’s) primary election, some may be all but determined by the results and many others will be re-shaped by them.

Locally, Park County voters will cast ballots for candidates running for Congress, the state Legislature, the Park County Commission and Powell mayor, among other races.

Primary elections are generally a partisan affair, where Republican, Democratic and other voters choose their party’s nominees for the general election. In line with an overwhelmingly Republican county, most of the action is on the Republican ballot.

Statewide

At the top of the ballot, partisan voters will find the statewide race to replace U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Republicans will choose among eight candidates, and Democrats two, while Libertarians and Constitutionalists each have one contender. The leading vote-getters from each party will face off in November’s general election.

Park County

Five Republicans are battling for two available seats on the Park County Commission: incumbent Lee Livingston of Wapiti and challengers Jake Fulkerson of Cody, Richard George of rural Cody, Bob Ruckman of rural Powell and South Fork resident Boone Tidwell. (The other incumbent whose term expires this year — Commissioner Bucky Hall of Cody — is not seeking re-election.)

The top two GOP vote-getters will advance to November’s general election ballot. A Democratic challenger could join the race by collecting 25 or more write-in votes on the party’s primary ballot.

Legislature

Republican voters in the Powell area will again be asked to choose whether they’d like to be represented in the state legislature by Dan Laursen or Dave Blevins. Laursen ousted Blevins in 2014’s primary and now Blevins is looking to return the favor in a House District 25 rematch.

The GOP winner will face Democrat Shane Tillotson in November.

Perhaps the most intriguing local race is the Republican primary in House District 24, where incumbent Sam Krone of Cody is facing challenger Scott Court. Court is not well known in Cody, but the race got a shakeup in late July, when Krone was charged with seven criminal counts alleging he embezzled more than $9,600 from the Park County Bar Association between 2010 and 2013. He is due to make his first court appearance this (Tuesday)morning. Krone has said he’ll be exonerated.

Whoever wins the GOP primary will advance to face Democrat Paul Fees of Cody and an independent bid from Republican Sandy Newsome of Cody — assuming she collects several dozen signatures by Aug. 29.

House District 24 represents the western part of Cody, the North and South forks, Wapiti and the northern part of Yellowstone National Park.

Meanwhile, the primary competition for House District 50 — which includes the eastern part of Cody, Ralston, the Willwood, Heart Mountain, Clark, Crandall and Sunlight — will be much less interesting. State Rep. David Northrup, R-Powell, is unopposed in the Republican primary and so is his Democratic challenger, Mike Specht of Clark. Those two will presumably advance to face off in November.

Even less intriguing could be the race for Senate District 18, where no one is opposing long-time state Sen. Hank Coe, R-Cody.

City of Powell

With municipal positions being non-partisan, all Powell voters can help winnow the field for city mayor. With three candidates in the race (incumbent Mayor Don Hillman and challengers James Andrews and Dawson Wolff) and only two spots available on the general election ballot, the lowest vote-getter will effectively be eliminated today. The two top candidates will face off again in November.

(City of Cody voters will make the same choice between mayoral candidates Charles Cloud, Matt Hall and Tim Lamb.)

The only contested Powell City Council race is in Ward 3, where incumbent Lesli Spencer and challenger Doug Kirkham will face off. However, since both the two top vote-getters will advance, the primary will likely serve as little more than a straw poll for November’s general election.

Barring a write-in campaign, Powell City Councilmen Jim Hillberry and Floyd Young will continue to be unopposed in Wards 1 and 2, respectively.

Election Basics

Powell area voters — including the Willwood — cast their ballots at the Park County Fairgrounds. Garland residents vote at the Garland Community Church, Ralston/Heart Mountain folks at the Mountain View Club and Clark citizens at the Clark Pioneer Recreation Center.

As of Aug. 1, Park County had 12,447 registered voters. That’s a little more than half of the adult population. More than 80 percent of those registered — a total of 10,043 voters — were Republicans. Another 1,255 voters (10 percent) were Democrats and another 1,071 (8.6 percent) were unaffiliated.

Those figures will change today, as Wyoming law allows citizens to register to vote and to change their party affiliation at the polls. To register, all you need is a driver’s license or a photo ID and Social Security number.

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