Tuesday’s General Election brought no surprises

By VIRGINIA GIORGIS Pioneer Editor vgiorgis@bridgervalleypioneer.com
Posted 11/11/22

Recap of Tuesday's General Election

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Tuesday’s General Election brought no surprises

Posted

EVANSTON — Overall voter registration has ticked up since the primary election, according to records from the Secretary of State’s Office and Uinta County had 6,738 ballots processed in the general election, which included the absentee ballots

Statewide, there were 296,907 registered voters in Wyoming as of Nov. 1, according to state records. That’s up by 9,893 people from the number of registered voters on Aug. 16, for the primary election.

However, it was reported Wednesday afternoon the turnout for the general election in Wyoming fizzled after the contested primary. Overall, 198,153 people cast votes in the midterm election in the Cowboy State. Although non-presidential year elections historically draw a smaller turnout, it still represents the fewest people to participate in a general election in Wyoming since 2014. Voter apathy may have been exacerbated by the fact there were no competitive statewide races. Every Republican candidate was either unopposed or beat their opponents by at least 45% of the vote.

The Uinta County records were unofficial until the canvasing board met yesterday after the Pioneer’s press time. The results and figures given in this story are from the unofficial results available Tuesday night.

Uinta County overwhelmingly went with the rest of the state by giving the nod to Harriet Hageman for the U. S. Representative and to Governor Mark Gordon for a second term. The only state office that was not running unopposed was that of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Megan Degenfelder won this position statewide and also had almost a 2,000 edge from Uinta County voters.

A race for HD 19 had created a lot of interest in Bridger Valley with pros and cons bounced about of the candidates, who included a write-in. Jon Conrad won the Republican primary in August. Sarah Butters opposed him on the Democrat ticket. In addition Lyman resident and former chief of police Joe Webb ran a write-in campaign. The results gave Conrad 1,748 votes, Gutters 374, and there were 927 votes for a write-in, although the unofficial results did not name who received the write-in votes.

As for SD 15, Wendy Schuler ran unopposed. There were 193 write-in votes in this race.

A second race, which had stirred interest in the Valley and in the county, was that for the Uinta County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Doug Matthews had lost out in the Primary. The two men seeking this position are both currently deputies in the Sheriff’s Office. Andy Kopp took a total of 3,992 votes compared to Rowdy Dean with 2,651 votes.

Both Mark Anderson and Eric South were reelected to the Uinta County Commission. Their competitors were edged out in August’s primary election. Those running to fill the county offices all ran unopposed.

In the Valley, Shane Hooton was elected the new mayor of Lyman with 392 votes compared to Allen Wyatt with 287 votes. For the council, Bronson Berg and Gregg Moretti were elected to fill the two positions.

In Mountain View, Kelly Bonner and Jamy Ferrin were elected to the council with 275 and 260 votes respectively.

The two current board members of Uinta County #4 –Kelly Carpenter and Dale Madsen – were reelected. They ran unopposed.

For Uinta County #6, Spencer Eyre and Jason Lamberti were elected to the two seats on the board, with 696 and 478 votes respectively.

Unopposed positions on county boards, etc. were not reported here as the candidates had no opposition.