Absentee Votes Pad Wetle’S Lead

Fri., Nov. 13, 1998

By John Craig johnc@spokesman.com

Jerry Wetle was still the Stevens County prosecutor after absentee ballots were counted Thursday.

Wetle’s narrow margin over Democratic challenger Jim Irwin in the Nov. 3 general election was padded only slightly by the absentees. Wetle now has 51.5 percent of the vote, 6,461 to 6,101.

Other election night results also were unchanged by the absentee count. While some additional ballots may still be counted, none of the results will change.

In the race to replace County Commissioner J.D. “Andy” Anderson, Republican Vickie Strong kept most of her election night margin over former Democratic County Commissioner Tom McKern. Strong now has 52.8 percent of the vote, 6,655 to 5,951.

In other contested races, incumbent Auditor Tim Gray now leads Republican challenger Leonard Carlson with 58 percent of the vote, 7,217 to 5,227, and incumbent Sheriff Craig Thayer has a 2-1 margin over the closest of two challengers. Democrat Thayer has 7,849 votes to Republican Ken Scalf’s 3,962 and Reform Party candidate Don Thuillard’s 840.

A proposal to establish a new Fire District 12 has 81.1 percent support, 258-60. Fire District 8’s request to establish an emergency medical service levy of 25 cents per $1,000 of assessed value is passing with 52.1 percent support, 62-57. Unlike other levies, EMS measures require only a simple majority to pass.

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