Krueger wins county commissioner District 3 primary election
The following results are from Tuesday’s primary election with the initial count of 7,562 absentee ballots plus 42 of Flathead County's 42 precincts reporting.
Voter turnout was 33.77 percent. There were 19,510 votes cast.
County Commissioner
It was a close race for Gary Krueger and Gerald “Jay” Scott in the GOP primary for county commissioner District 3. Krueger won by 15 votes after recount, which was conducted under Montana law. Prior to the recount Krueger led by 14 votes.
A recount is retired for a county office if a candidate is defeated by a margin not exceeding 1/4th of 1 percent of the total vote or by a margin not exceeding 10 votes, whichever is greater. The defeated candidate must request the recount within five days of the official canvass of votes.
The canvass won’t be conducted until after provisional ballots are counted Monday and until after the post-election audit, which is either Tuesday or next Wednesday.
The final count was completed at 2 a.m. on June 6 with 3,636 votes for Krueger and 3,621 votes for Scott.
Interim Commissioner Cal Scott won county commissioner District 1 primary with 2,955 votes and Kirk Gentry in second with 2,733.
On Nov. 6 Krueger will be against Democrat Gil Jordan for District 3 and Scott will be against Democrat Clara Mears-LaChappelle for District 1. Both Jordan and Mears-LaChappelle ran uncontested in the primaries.
Incumbent legislators
In Senate District 6, Rep. Janna Taylor of Rollins won with 63.98 percent of the votes. Incumbent Sen. Carmine Mowbray of Polson, who was appointed to fill out an unfinished term, had 17 percent and Michael “Mike” Larson had 19.02 percent.
The winner of this race is the presumptive nominee, because the Democratic and Green party candidates were removed from the ballot for filing problems.
In House District 9, incumbent Rep. Scott Reichner of Bigfork won 69.33 percent of the votes and ran uncontested for precinct 38 committeeman. Frank Mutch of Finley Point had 30.53 percent.
Reichner will be up against Democrat Rodrik Brosten in November.
Reichner’s wife, Jill, defeated Clarice Ryan with 58.01 percent of the votes to Ryan’s 41.24 percent for precinct 38 committeewoman.
District Court
Heidi Ulbricht and Vanessa Cervalo were the only two candidates on the ballot for the district judge seat being vacated by Judge Stewart Stadler. Ulbricht had 66.61 percent of the votes and Cervalo had 33.15.
There were three candidates on the ballot for the district court judge seat being vacated by Judge Kitty Curtis. Robert Allison won with 45.24 percent of the votes and Daniel Wilson came in second with 34.75. Bruce Fredrickson had 19.65 percent.
In November it will be Allison against Wilson for the Flathead District Court judge position.
To view the entire results from the June 6 primary election, go to http://flathead.mt.gov/election/EL45_018.HTM.