Incumbents retain county seats

More than 6,100 voters sent in ballots and headed to the polls for Tuesday's general election.

Sanders County Commissioner Carol Brooker was re-elected by voters, receiving 3,102 votes to challenger Paul Fielder's 2,768. As the final ballot tallies were released Tuesday evening at the Sanders County Courthouse, Fielder congratulated Brooker on her win.

"You're tough to beat," Fielder told Brooker as he shook her hand.

Sanders County Sheriff Tom Rummel also was re-elected. Rummel received 4,323 votes and Darlene Lee received 1,579.

In the race for Sanders County Justice of the Peace, voters decided to retain Judge Doug Dryden, who received 3,615 votes. Mark French received 2,035 votes in his run for Justice of the Peace.

Two state House of Representatives were running for re-election in Sanders County. Among Sanders County voters, Republican Bob Brown received the majority of votes, 2,584 to Democrat Chris Gross's 981 in House District 13. In House District 14, Republican Denley Loge received 1,767 votes in Sanders County, while Democrat Diane Magone received 620.

Sanders County Clerk and Recorder Nichol Scribner said that the election went smoothly.

"Everything went great and the counts were spot on all night long," Scribner said.

Scribner noted that 51 provisional ballots remained and will be counted on Nov. 12. She said provisional ballots are cast for instances including if a voter forgets to bring identification to the polling location, or if they received an absentee ballot but still went to the polls to vote.

In the race for 20th District Court Judge, incumbent Deborah "Kim" Christopher beat Ashley Morigeau among Sanders County voters. The 20th judicial district also includes Lake County. Results were not available from Lake County at press time. The race for House District 14, where Loge won among Sanders County voters, also includes Mineral County. Results from that county were not available at press time.

In statewide races, Republicans won easily among Sanders County voters. Matt Rosendale and Greg Gianforte both had more ballots cast for them in Sanders County.

More than 8,800 Sanders County residents were registered to vote in this election. Just less than 70 percent of the registered voters cast ballots in the election, with 6,149 ballots being counted by the county elections staff Tuesday evening.

Tuesday's election results will not become official until the canvass on Nov. 20.