Election results final; 115 county primary ballots disqualified

All election results held firm as Whitman County’s canvass board finalized results of the Aug. 7 primary election Tuesday morning.

Closest decision was the Colfax cemetery maintenance levy request, which passed with 60.5 percent of the vote. The 597 yes votes were five more than the $150,000 measure needed to exceed the 60 percent mark required for approval.

Farmington’s $15,000 current expense levy passed by two votes; its’ 42 yes votes gave it a 62.7 percent approval.

Art Swannack of Lamont and Bill Tensfeld of Rosalia officially advance to the November general election in the race to represent District 1 on the Whitman County commission. Swannack had 42.93 percent of the vote with 984 votes with Tensfeld getting 35.82 percent with 821 votes. Incumbent Greg Partch received 461 votes for 20.11 percent of the vote. The number-three finish ends his bid for a fourth term as commissioner.

In the District 2 commissioner primary, challenger Dean Kinzer, a Republican from Ewartsville, finished with 911 votes, good for 59 percent to top incumbent Democrat Pat O’Neill of Johnson, who got 630 votes for 40.8 percent of the vote. The two will face off again in November’s general election.

Tuesday’s canvass board of Auditor Eunice Coker, Prosecutor Denis Tracy and County Commissioner Michael Largent rejected 115 ballots that had been flagged for review by elections workers.

Of those, 65 ballots were rejected because their postmark was stamped after Aug. 7; 35 were rejected because they had no signatures and 15 were rejected because their signatures did not match those on file with the secretary of state.