The booths were full as voters packed into the Alamosa Family Recreation Center on Tuesday.

Valley has high voter turnout: Most

incumbents

retain seats



By LARRY WINGET

NELDA CURTISS

SYLVIA LOBATO

& RUTH HEIDE

SAN LUIS VALLEY — Voter turnouts throughout the San Luis Valley were huge in the General Election.

Most of the incumbent county commissioners retained their seats, and most of the counties’ tallies reflected the national trends.

Following are the county election wrap-ups. As of press time, Rio Grande County’s results were still not complete.



ALAMOSA COUNTY

ALAMOSA - Nearly every active registered voter in Alamosa County exercised the right to vote in the General Election.

Alamosa County Clerk & Recorder Melanie Woodward reported an estimated 92 percent turnout from the active voters and said 96 percent of the mail-out ballots that were sent out came back in. The mail-out/absentee votes represented the lion’s share of the county’s totals with more than 4,000 voters choosing to return mail-out ballots.

Early votes represented another 500-plus ballots.

Alamosa County voters chose to retain incumbent Republican County Commissioner George Wilkinson in District 3, but the voting margin was narrow between Wilkinson and Democrat Charles Griego with Wilkinson receiving 3,091 votes to Griego’s 2,900 votes.

Incumbent Republican County Commissioner Darius Allen received 4,383 confidence votes.

District Judge O. John Kuenhold also received confidence votes from 4,503 Alamosa County residents. Those voting against his retention in Alamosa County totaled 1,079.

Alamosa County voters followed the lead of other counties in Colorado House District 62 in giving Democrat Edward Vigil the lead with 3,131 votes to Republican Randy Jackson’s 2,949 votes.

Alamosa County voters also followed the country’s lead in selecting Democrat Barack Obama as the next U.S. President with 3,521 votes to Republican John McCain’s 2,635 votes. Ralph Nader received 61 votes from Alamosa County residents.

Alamosa County voters also selected Democrat Mark Udall over Republican Bob Schaffer as U.S. Senator with 3,410 votes to 2,252 votes, respectively, and overwhelmingly re-elected Democrat John Salazar to the 3rd Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives with 4,725 votes to 1,465 votes for Republican Wayne Wolf.

Alamosa County voters also approved the school district’s bond issue by more than 300 votes with 2,870 in favor to 2,544 opposed. Alamosa County residents residing in the Sangre de Cristo school district also handily approved that bond issue with 366 votes in favor to 137 votes opposed.

Voters in Alamosa County also approved the mosquito control district’s mill levy increase with 2,554 votes in favor to 2,297 opposed.

The ambulance district’s issue also passed with 3,360 votes in favor to 2,313 opposed.



CONEJOS COUNTY

CONEJOS - On an election night that saw Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain concede the fight to Democrat Barack Obama by 9:30 p.m. Conejos County helped the Democrats’ cause by voting 2,106 for Obama and 1,646 for McCain.

In County races, results released by the Conejos County Clerk and Recorder’s office show incumbent Republican John Sandoval retaining his Dist. I county commissioner’s job by polling 2,090 votes to 1,673 for Democratic challenger June Madril.

In Dist. III, Republican incumbent Steve McCarroll also kept his commission seat. McCarroll received 2,172 votes to Democratic opponent Charlie Manchego’s total of 1,602.

In the race for District Attorney for Colorado’s 12th Judicial District, Conejos County voted 2,029 for Democrat David Mahonee, while casting 1,579 votes for his Republican challenger Larry Orr.

In the battle to replace retiring Republican Senator Wayne Allard, Conejos County gave Democratic candidate Mark Udall 2,197 votes while Republican opponent Bob Schaffer received 1,433 Conejos County votes.

By press time the Associated Press was calling the senatorial election in Colorado in favor of Mark Udall. He will join Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo) as the State’s new junior senator.

The election of a new representative for Colorado House District 62 saw 2,014 County votes go to Democratic candidate Edward Vigil as 1,641 County votes went to Republican Randy Jackson. Incumbent Democrat Rafael Gallegos got one write-in vote for the House Dist. 62 slot, after he failed to make the State ballot in the primary election.

Incumbent Democratic U.S. Representative John Salazar, of Colorado’s Third U.S. Congressional District, won Conejos County by 2,931 to the 869 votes cast for Republican congressional candidate Wayne Wolf.

In the contest for State Board of Education, Conejos County cast 2,076 votes for Democratic candidate Jill Brake and 1,448 ballots were in favor of Republican hopeful Maria Neal.

Sandoval and McCarroll have been re-elected to their commission seats, but state and district races must wait for a complete count before winners are announced.

Voting was heavy most of the day, according to election workers at the Conejos County Courthouse polling station. “It’s been a pretty heavy turnout,” said election worker Barbara Robins. “A lot of people vote early, so we are going have a big turnout.”

With at least 3,752 votes cast, out of a total of 5,198 Conejos registered voters, the voter turnout equals more than 70 percent, one of the heaviest turnouts in several years.

County Clerk and Recorder Lawrence Gallegos reported that there are 2,767 registered Democrats, 1,810 registered Republicans, 614 registered as unaffiliated and seven voters registered to other political parties.

Gallegos said there had been few problems with the election, in the face of a heated presidential race and enough ballots issued to make the State’s ballot this year the longest in Colorado since 1912. He did say that human error took one electronic machine out of the election. “The error was mine,” said ‘Gallegos, “But, no votes were lost.” He said ballots were transferred from the machine to a hand counting system and all votes were accounted for.





COSTILLA COUNTY

SAN LUIS - Costilla County Clerk Dolores Burns was impressed with the turnout of voters in her county. “I would say we almost had 74 percent of the registered electorate cast their vote. That’s a pretty good turnout,” she said.

With eight of nine precincts counted as of midnight, Mark Udall (Democrat) received 1,177 votes to Bob Shaffer’s 367 votes. Bob Kinsey received 29, Douglas “Dayhorse” Campbell received 63.

Representative John Salazar received 1481 votes to the 233 votes his opponent Wayne Wolf (Republican) received.

The State Board of Education District 3 Vote showed Democrat Jill L. Brake winning with 1174 to Marcia Neal’s 384 votes.

Democrat Edward Vigil earned 1149 votes in the State Representative District 62 contest. Randy Jackson (Republican) garnered 452 and write-in Rafael Gallegos received 3 votes.

The county commissioner race for District 1 also proved a win for another democrat, Eddie Roybal who took 1083 votes or 64 percent of the vote. Patrick Allaart, Republican, received 611 or 36 percent of the vote for the race.

The District 3 race for county commissioner was a vote of confidence for Crestina Martinez, Democrat, who received 1386 votes or 100 percent of the votes.

In the presidential race, Senator Barack Obama’s ticket received 1,236 votes or 73 percent of the vote to Senator John McCain’s 411 votes or 24 percent of the votes.



MINERAL COUNTY

CREEDE - Eryn Follman, Mineral County Clerk, said that 80 percent of the registered voters voted in early voting, mail-in ballots or on election day. In the U.S. Senator race, Democrat Mark Udall won 297 to republican Bob Schaffer’s 269, Bob Kinsey’s 10 and Douglas “Dayhorse” Campbell’s 38.

John Salazar won the seat for Representative to 111th U.S. Congress for District 3 with 397 votes to Wayne Wolf’s 208 votes in Mineral County.

Marcia Neal, republican, won the State Board of Education Congressional District 3 with 258 votes to Jill Brake’s 251 in Mineral County.

Taking one of the few counties in the district, Republican Randy Jackson won 334 to 208 over Democrat Edward Vigil for State Representative for District 62. There were two votes for the write in candidate.

Jimmy Adelman had no contesters for his position as County Commissioner of District 2. He received 502 votes.

Charles “Chuck” Fairchild won 417 votes to Mike Warrick’s 196 and wins the County Commissioner for District 3.

Although Barack Obama won Colorado, as the first democrat to win in recent history, he lost to Senator John McCain in Mineral County with a vote of 334 for McCain and 270 for Obama.



RIO GRANDE COUNTY

DEL NORTE - Rio Grande County bucked the national tide in the presidential race, with 1,400 for John McCain, 1,130 for Barack Obama and 16 for Ralph Nader and a full count of the mail ballots moving slowly due to possible equipment issues.

The turnout was good. With 7,245 registered voters in the county, 5,595 made their opinions known.

At press time, the race between Republican Bob Schaffer and Democrat Mark Udall for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Wayne Allard saw Schaffer ahead, 1,292 to Udall’s 1,086 in Rio Grande County.

House District 3 voting saw incumbent Democrat John Salazar ahead of Republican challenger Wayne Wolf, 1,648 to 913.

The State Board of Education, Cong. District 3 saw Democrat Jill L. Brake drawing 1,149 to Republican Marcia Neal’s 1,268.

In the race for State Rep. HD Dist. 62, Republican Randy Jackson pulled ahead of Democrat Edward Vigil, 1,468-1,016. There were no write-in votes for incumbent Rafael Lorenzo Gallegos.

A tight race Valley-wide between 12th Judicial District hopefuls Larry Orr and David Mahonee saw Republican Orr drawing the support of 1,375 Rio Grande County voters to his Democrat challenger’s 1,076 with votes still to be tallied.

The races for county commissioner saw incumbents holding onto their seats, with Republican Doug Davie drawing 1,393 votes to Democrat Joe Mellott’s 1,109 and Republican Dennis Murphy pulling in 1,566 to Democrat Glenn Graham’s 913.

Incumbent Coroner Rusty Strohmayer drew the support of 1,263 voters to Dr. Janet Basinger’s 1,246 at press time.

Early voting for the various school issues saw a rare tally of 286 for and 286 against 3A, and the tight vote continued past midnight with 485 for and 488 against.

The 3B question saw a tally of 608 for and 569 against.

Del Norte’s school bond question, 3C, drew 653 votes for and 533 against; and Sargent going 143-68 for 3D, its bond issue.



SAGUACHE COUNTY

SAGUACHE - Melinda Myers, County Clerk in Saguache said that 90 percent of registered voters voted. “It’s a record and our ballot was probably the longest in Colorado this year,” she said.

In the U.S. Representative contest, John Salazar (Democrat) won over Wayne Wolf (Republican) with 1903 votes for Salazar and 613 for Wolf. Likewise, the Democrat Mark Udall pushed away Republican Bob Schaffer in the race for U.S. Senate. Udall received 1519 votes, Schaffer 795, Bob Kinsey 74 and Doug Campbell 116.

Jill Brake, Democrat, with 1484 votes took the Board of Education District 3 over Marcia Neal, Republican, with 816 votes.

In the final count in Saguache County, Democrat Cal Michael Cali took 710 votes to 259 for Tom Massey, Republican in the State Representative for District 60 race.

Randy Jackson (Republican) running for State Representative for District 62 lost to Edward Vigil (Democrat) 711 to 773 in Saguache County.

Sam Pace, Democrat, won in his uncontested race for District 1 County Commissioner with 1,795 votes. Likewise, Michael Spearman, Democrat, as District 3 County Commissioner received 1,813 votes.

In Special District Issues, the Gunnison Watershed School District ballot issue 3a was defeated 60 to 20. The Sangre de Cristo School District ballot issue 3B tied in yes and no votes with 44 votes for each. The Town of Moffat ballot issue 5B collected 23 yes votes and 31 no votes. Baca Grande Water and Sanitation ballot issue 5A votes were 242 yes and 129 no, issue 5B were 213 yes and 113 no; issue 5C was 79 yes votes and 33 no votes; issue 500 was 61 yes and 52 no votes.

Senator Barack Obama won 1,620 votes to 913 for Senator John McCain in Saguache County.