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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Idaho Election Night updates

The Spokesman-Review
Kootenai results Updated 10:45 p.m. Very early Kootenai County results are in. State Rep. Phil Hart, faced with a write-in challenge from Howard Griffiths, has taken an early lead, leading 2,578 to 899 votes for write-ins. In the other write-in race, County Commission candidate Jai Nelson has taken a big lead. She has 9,055 votes, while write-ins gained 1,742. Current Commissioner Rick Currie launched a write-in campaign this fall after losing the primary. In other contested races, Bob Nonini, R, is leading David Larsen, D, 2,813 to 1,132, to retain his seat as the rep from Legislative District 5, position A. In the race for State Representative from District 4, Position A, Marge Chadderdon, R, is leading Mike Bullard, D, 2,439 to 1,642. In District 4, Position B, Kathleen Sims, R, is leading Democrat Paula Marano, 2,286 to 1,807. In the race for state rep, legislative district 2, position A, Shannon McMillan, R, is ahead of Mary Lou Shepherd, D, 148 to 106. In the county coroner race, Republican Debbie Wilkey is ahead of Democrat Jody DeLuca Hissong, 7,900 to 4,555. In the county clerk’s race, incumbent Dan English is trailing Republican Cliff Hayes 6,913 to 5,677. And in the NIC trustee race, incumbent Christie Wood is leading challenger Robert Ketchum 6,239 to 4,246. Ronald Nilson is ahead of Kenneth Howard 5,078 to 4,737. These results reflect those cast in absentee ballots. Kootenai update Updated 10:45 p.m. Kootenai County Clerk Dan English says they may have results to release shortly after 10:30. The hold up, he says, has been the number of write-in votes to count and a large number of absentee ballots to count. From Eye on Boise Updated 9:51 p.m. From Betsy Russell: The AP has called three more Idaho races: Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa, Lt. Gov. Brad Little, and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna all have won re-election, the AP says. The most high-profile race among those three was Luna’s; he faced a challenge from Stan Olson, the just-retired superintendent of the Boise School District, the state’s second-largest district. With 227 of 961 precincts reporting, Luna’s lead was 62.7 percent to Olson’s 37.3 percent. Slow results Updated at 9:20 p.m. Kootenai County Elections officials say they’ve finished processing the first batch of ballots, but couldn’t say when they’d get those results posted. When pressed, they reiterated that they didn’t know when those numbers would be posted. Complicating things in Kootenai County are two write-in campaigns, one for the Kootenai County Commission and the other for a state House seat. AP calls Crapo, Simpson, Otter races Updated at 9:11 p.m. The Associated Press has called several of Idaho’s top races - it’s declared Sen. Mike Crapo a winner, winning a third term in the U.S. Senate; along with 2nd District Rep. Mike Simpson, winning another term in the House; and the AP has declared Gov. Butch Otter the winner in his bid for second term - though only a small fraction of Idaho’s votes have been counted. The AP’s projection was based on exit polls along with the earliest results. Minnick-Labrador race tightens Updated at 8:46 p.m. With 83 of 961 Idaho precincts reporting — though still none from Kootenai County — Republican Raul Labrador’s lead over incumbent Democrat Walt Minnick tightens in the 1st Congressional District race. Labrador has 51 percent to Minnick’s 43 percent. No Kootenai County numbers yet Updated at 8:37 p.m. Results from Kootenai County haven’t yet been posted. Luna leads Olson Updated at 8:33 p.m. Incumbent Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna leads challenger Stan Olson 59 percent to 41 percent. Labrador’s lead holding Updated at 8:20 p.m. Now Idaho has 59 precincts reporting, and Labrador is leading Minnick 53 percent to 38 percent. Some TV stations already are calling Otter v. Allred, at 62 percent to 32 percent. First results in Updated at 8:03 p.m. With just four of 961 precincts reporting, Gov. Butch Otter is leading challenger Democrat Keith Allred 72 percent to 20 percent. In the 1st Congressional District, Republican Raul Labrador is ahead of Democrat incumbent Walt Minnick 57 percent to 36 percent.