The primary election polls have closed and the initial, unofficial ballot results are in from the mail ballots returned before election day and those processed – ready to be counted.
Image of private voting booths. Photo Courtesy of KSHB.
Within Chaffee County, there was little competition for the Democratic party candidates, who are sweeping their fields. But early ballot returns show that the right-wing extremism streak runs through the county’s Republican party.
Among candidates for the Republican slot to run against Democratic Senator Michael Bennet, election-denier (and Jan. 6 Capitol Assault attendee) Ron Hanks is ahead of the more moderate (translate “rationale”) Joe O’Dea in early returns nearly 52 to 48 percent.
In the Republican primary race for Secretary of State, Chaffee Republicans have already given Pam Anderson a significant lead with more than 40 percent of the primary votes in.
Within the county, the most contested race is for the Chaffee County Commissioner District 3 Republican primary. It pits 2020 election-denier Brandon Becker running against Dr. Alison Brown, a pro-business moderate Republican who has gone on record that she believes in the peaceful transition of power and that the electoral vote that installed Joe Biden as president was decided fairly. Becker, who has given little indication of his stance on local issues other than vague suggestions about more housing and business development, is ahead of Brown in the early returns 1,371 to 1,111.
In conversation with Chaffee County Clerk and Recorder Lori Mitchell earlier today, she said that foot traffic dropping off ballots has been brisk all day at all centers. “Turnout is good, the election judges are in place, everyone is doing their jobs, everything is clicking along as it should,” said Mitchell.
As of 7:37 p.m. June 28, the Chaffee Clerks Office had recorded a 32.65 percent ballot return for the primary election (which is expected to rise later this evening):
Total Ballots Cast 5,090<
Active Voters 15,589
This does not mean that the county’s ballots are all counted.
The ballots counted so far were at the county clerk’s office when the election closed at 7:00 p.m. These preliminary results were uploaded to the state’s election night reporting site between 7:15 and 7:30 p.m. Then, the office waits for the election judges to bring back the ballots from Buena Vista. “These results usually arrive around 7:45 p.m. to be immediately processed and more results get posted around 9:00 p.m.
For more on the county election results: https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/CO/Chaffee/113974/web.285569/#/summary?v=299114%2F
Anyone who wanted to insert ‘Let’s go Brandon’ into the ballot is unqualified and unfit for office and it is offensive that anyone would vote for such an Anti-American who is against our democracy and lacks any respect for the system or the people. It’s a shame this area is not diligent enough to vote with facts instead of for bombastic idiocy.