Live Park County primary election results

The Tribune will be posting election results as they start coming in tonight on this webpage. Newer information will be posted at the top of this page, so refresh this page often for the latest.

11:45 p.m. So to put a bow on this thing, a recap: Lee Livingston and incumbent Bucky Hall advance to the general election ballot as the two Republican candidates for two Park County Commission seats, defeating five others. They are unopposed as of right now, but it's possible there is a Democratic candidate who received enough write-in votes to join them on the November ballot. We'll learn more later this week when write-in votes are read.

Dave Blevins won a four-way race to represent the Powell area in the state house, House District 25.

It was a bit of a nail-biter, but state Sen. Hank Coe edged out challenger Bob Berry, winning 51.2% to 48.4% in Senate District 18.

David Northrup appears on his way to taking the House District 50 seat; incumbent Pat Childers finished fourth among the four candidates.

State Rep. Elaine Harvey, R-Lovell, beat attorney Rob DiLorenzo of Emblem to handily win the primary in House District 26.

I think that should do it for me tonight. Thanks so much to everyone who read along and commented. Have a good night and pick up Thursday's Tribune for some more detailed coverage.

11:38 p.m. The absentee ballots are in, so everything's in. It appears that Hank Coe has indeed retained his Senate seat. Coe's 100-vote lead over Bob Berry actually grew to a final margin of 117 votes when the absentees ballots were totaled. That's a 51.2%-48.4% win. None of the other races changed in their results, either. This primary election is (unofficially until certified by the canvassing board) over.

11:28 p.m. "We're done," says Clerk Jerri Torczon. Just waiting for a print out of the data and then we're finished.

11:19 p.m. Some elections staff are leaving the building now, so I think we're extremely close to being done. Also, I missed this when it was posted on his campaign's Facebook page about 45 minutes ago, but Steve Walker has congratulated Dave Blevins on his win in HD 25.

11 p.m. I think we're nearing the end. "The (vote tabulating) machine is jamming up but they got two machines done and waiting to be counted," said County Clerk Jerri Torczon. There's one more machine and about 200 more votes (of the 1,368) to go, she said.

"They'll have it done shortly," Torczon said.

10:52 p.m. No updates on the absentees, but here one more tidbit after looking at the results a little more closely: it looks like there's a chance that Park County Democrats may have written in a candidate for the Park County Commission. There were 50 write-ins. If 25 or more of those votes are for the same individual, that person will advance to the general election ballot, running against Republicans Lee Livingston and Bucky Hall.

10:42 p.m. Just so you know, I'm still here. I'm waiting for the final absentee ballots to be fed into the machines and counted.

10:23 p.m. David Kellett just sent out a press release congratulating Dave Blevins for winning the HD 25 race.

10:22 p.m. To answer some questions from the comments, apparently, the elections folks got a late start counting absentees and are wishing they'd started sooner.

10:20 p.m. I may be wrong, but I'm thinking the only race that really could be in the balance with these absentees is the Hank Coe- Bob Berry race. If Bob Berry were to pick up about 56 percent of the absentee ballots, he would close the 100-vote gap, by my rough back-of-the-ballot-sheet math. That's tough, but not impossible.

10:07 p.m. "We're getting closer," Park County Clerk Jerri Torczon says about those absentee ballots. She said there are absentees from three large precincts still left to be tabulated.

10:02 p.m. While the elections staff and volunteers continue working their way through the absentee ballots, I'll add that in the one contested Powell City Council race, Ward 3 candidate Josh Shorb beat Amber Yager 191 votes to 88. However, both candidates will advance and they'll face each other again in November. Powell City Councilman Don Hillman had 793 people vote for him in his uncontested bid for mayor. There were 45 write-in votes, so it's possible someone had the 25 write-in votes needed to make the general election ballot. We won't know the answer to that one until at least tomorrow, maybe later.

For completeness, I should add that there weren't any surprises in the other races on the ballot today. U.S. Sen. John Barraso (91 percent) blew away the other two Republican candidates in Park County. State Rep. Sam Krone, R-Cody, was the lone local legislator with no challengers and drew no write-in opponent today. U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., was unchallenged, as was the lone Democratic challenger, Chris Henrichsen of Casper. They'll face each other in November.

9:37 p.m. Still waiting on absentees. And to respond to some folks who noted it in the comments, yes, the turnout looks pretty poor at this point. I know that's what I was told by an election judge when I voted this morning, and the statistics seem to bear it out. We'll dig into those numbers for a story in Thursday's newspaper.

9:19 p.m. In response to a question down below, there are 1,360 absentee ballots still to be counted, which I believe are across various precincts. So yes, it's possible in one of the tight races that they could swing the outcome.

9:16 p.m. One more race here: in House District 26, where Rep. Elaine Harvey, R-Lovell has apparently fought off Tea Party challenger Rob DiLorenzo. Harvey apparently did well among the 65 Park County voters who live in the district: 46 of the votes (just over 70 percent) went to Harvey. She also did well in Big Horn County, say preliminary results over there, picking up 1,190 votes to DiLorenzo's 670.

Also, over in Cody's five-way mayoral race (sorry, commenter, that I didn't get to this sooner), incumbent Nancy Tia Brown picked up 42 percent of the vote to advance to general election. She'll apparently face Karen Ballinger, who picked up a little less than 24 percent of the ballots.

8:58 p.m. These are just about final, only absentee ballots left to count. David Blevins appears to have won House District 25 by about 20 percentage points or 275 votes.

Despite a strong Powell showing by John Wetzel and Dan Laursen in Powell, Lee Livingston and Bucky Hall have taken the two county commission seats.

Willwood farmer David Northrup appears to have unseated Rep. Pat Childers, who finished fourth in a four-man HD 50 race.

State Sen. Hank Coe has barely defeated challenger Bob Berry by about 100 votes.

House District 25
Dave Blevins - 641 (44%)
Billy Greaham - 366 (26%)
Steve Walker - 288 (20%)
David Kellett - 133 (9%)

County commission
Lee Livingston - 2,182 votes (24%)
Bucky Hall - 1,776 votes (20%)
John Wetzel - 1,414 votes (16%)
Dan Laursen - 1,214 votes (13.5%)
Greg Gaspers - 870 votes (10%)
Alex Gisoldi - 831 votes (9%)
Bob Stevens - 372 votes (4%)
Ron Reed - 280 votes (Reed is out of the race, but ballots had already been printed by the time he withdrew)

House District 50
David Northrup - 498 votes (32%)
Charles Cloud - 387 votes (25%)
T.D. Ball - 348 votes (22%)
Pat Childers - 329 votes (21%)

Senate District 18
Hank Coe - 1,663 votes (51%)
Bob Berry - 1,563 votes (48%)

8:47 p.m. 23 of 29 precincts are now in. First results from HD 25: Dave Blevins is way out in front in the four-man race. He's got 312 votes, ahead of 197 for Billy Greaham, 120 for Steve Walker and 90 for David Kellett.

Lee Livingston and Bucky Hall remain well ahead of the field for the county commission, but John Wetzel has picked up a lot of votes in the Powell area to vault into third place. There are still city of Powell votes to come in, which could further boost Wetzel.

Pat Childers could be his way to a defeat, as he's now in fourth place in a tight four-man race. David Northrup continues to narrowly lead Charles Cloud and T.D. Ball.

Hank Coe's lead over Bob Berry has narrowed again, but he's up by 117 votes.

The numbers:

House District 25
Dave Blevins - 321 (44%)
Billy Greaham - 197 (27%)
Steve Walker - 120 (16%)
David Kellett - 90 (12%)


County commission
Lee Livingston - 2,008 votes (27.14%)
Bucky Hall - 1,538 votes (20.78%)
John Wetzel - 930 votes (12.57%)
Greg Gaspers - 810 votes (10.95%)
Dan Laursen - 784 votes (10.59%)
Alex Gisoldi - 740 votes (10.00%)
Bob Stevens - 322 votes (4.35%)
Ron Reed - 247 votes (Reed is out of the race, but ballots had already been printed by the time he withdrew)

House District 50
David Northrup - 428 votes (29.62%)
Charles Cloud - 326 votes (25.74%)
T.D. Ball - 326 votes (22.56%)
Pat Childers - 315 votes (21.80%)

Senate District 18
Hank Coe - 1,623 votes (51.69%)
Bob Berry - 1,506 votes (47.96%)

8:40 p.m. Now we have 15 of the 29 precincts totaled. Livingston and Hall continue to look good, now ahead of the rest of the field by nearly double. It would take a big shift the rest of the way to eat away that lead. The race between Berry and Coe in Senate District 18 has narrowed substantially, to 53% Coe, 47% Berry. In House District 50, David Northrup has an early lead, but it's very slight. He's followed by Charles Cloud, then incumbent Pat Childers and then T.D. Ball. They're all within 90 votes and about 7 percentage points.

County commission
Lee Livingston - 1,582 votes (30.38%)
Bucky Hall - 1,201 votes (23.06%)
Greg Gaspers - 647 votes (12.42%)
Alex Gisoldi - 550 votes (10.56%)
John Wetzel - 484 votes (9.29%)
Dan Laursen - 348 votes (6.68%)
Bob Stevens - 210 votes (4.03%)
Ron Reed - 176 votes (Reed is out of the race, but ballots had already been printed by the time he withdrew)

House District 50
David Northrup - 386 votes (28.59%)
Charles Cloud - 358 votes (26.52%)
Pat Childers - 309 votes (22.89%)
T.D. Ball - 293 votes (21.70%)

Senate District 18
Hank Coe - 1,526 votes (52.78%)
Bob Berry - 1,355 votes (46.87%)

8:31 p.m. The Powell area ballots are just now arriving at the courthouse. Clark ballots have been here for some time. So, in case you're wondering, the first three precincts that are in don't include any votes in HD 50. More results have just been tabulated.

8:26 p.m. OK, first results. These are from three of the county's 29 precincts, all in Cody. The really early findings? Hank Coe is looking good with a 64% - 34% lead on Bob Berry. Lee Livingston and Bucky Hall have the early edge on the commission race, but it's way too early to make too much of that.

The numbers (which aren't on the official county page yet):

County commission
Lee Livingston - 137 votes
Bucky Hall - 124 votes
Alex Gisoldi - 48 votes
Greg Gaspers - 46 votes
John Wetzel - 38 votes
Dan Laursen - 14 votes
Bob Stevens - 11 votes
Ron Reed - 10 votes (Reed is out of the race, but ballots had already been printed by the time he withdrew)

Senate District 18
Hank Coe - 153 votes
Bob Berry - 82 votes

8:14 p.m. No results yet. Park County Clerk Jerri Torczon said her office is working to print out some results for the media here at the courthouse, but is running into trouble converting the machine data to a printable format. "They're just having a glitch," Torczon said.

8:01 p.m. I haven't heard an ETA for the first results, but while we wait, here are two big things we could learn from the first batch of Cody ballots:

1) We'll have a pretty good picture of how the Park County Commission race is shaping up. Candidates must have a solid showing in the Cody area if they want to win. For example, a strong showing in Powell for John Wetzel and Dan Laursen won't be enough if they lag too much in Cody. They'll need to hang relatively close in Cody. Otherwise, they'll come up short, even with a strong showing at home in Powell; that's what happened to Vicki Gibson in 2010.

2) We'll get a pretty good idea of how long-time Cody legislators Hank Coe and Pat Childers are faring against their challengers. Coe is facing Cody bed and breakfast owner and Tea Party activist Bob Berry. Berry has put an enormous of time and resources into campaigning. According to state finance reports, he's spent $15,000 of his own money. He's even had volunteers reach out to voters with phone calls -- an unusual extra step. Coe has also stepped up his campaigning.

Childers, meanwhile, is facing three challengers, Cody industrial consultant T.D. Ball, Cody City Councilman Charles Cloud and Willwood farmer David Northrup. The first results will likely be from the city of Cody itself. Keep in mind that things may be different in rural areas.

7:51 p.m. In visiting with folks in Cody today, I've heard three names repeatedly come up as favorites for the county commission race: Lee Livingston (who led the fundraising race), incumbent Bucky Hall and Alex Gisoldi. John Wetzel's name has also been in the mix, but the fact of the matter is, no one really knows until all the votes are in and counted.

I'm not going to try handicapping the Powell house race (HD 25). Steve Walker has put in a lot of work campaigning -- something he's pitched as a reason for people to vote for him -- but all four candidates have been active. If an eye-balling of local yard signs is any indication (and it very well may not), it's looked like a neck-and-neck-and-neck race between Walker, Dave Blevins and Billy Greaham.

7:46 p.m. I'll be focusing almost-exclusively on local races tonight, which, thanks to a complete lack of Democratic candidates, are all among Republicans. Among those I'll be watching the most closely are the county commission race (2 seats/7 candidates), the state House District 25 race (that seat represents the Powell area and has 4 candidates), the state Senate District 18 race (which represents eastern Park County and has two candidates) and the House District 50 race (a battle to represent east Cody, Clark, the Willwood, Ralston, etc. among four contenders). There's also the House District 26 race, which is a two-way battle to represent northern Big Horn County plus Frannie and Garland in Park County.

If I'm missing something, let me know.

7:42 p.m. Alright. It's just after 7:30 and we've got ballots coming in. Already here at the courthouse are some ballots from nearby polling places. Ballots from four City of Cody precincts are here and now waiting to be counted.

5:31 p.m. If you haven't cast a ballot in today's primary election in Park County, you've still got one hour and 29 minutes til the polls close. If you need to bone up on the candidates before hustling to the polls, we've put together an election guide and had some information in today's newspaper about where to vote and what's up for election. More information is available at the Park County Elections website, www.parkcountyelections.net.

I'm going to be stationed at the courthouse tonight to track the results as they come in. Beginning at around 7:30 p.m., I'll start posting continuing updates on where things stand with ballot-counting and share some election tidbits to hopefully keep you interested while we wait. If this year is like past years, the first results will start becoming available a little after 8 p.m., and they'll be for Cody-area precincts. Getting all the results -- which will be unofficial until certified later this week -- will likely take a couple hours; in 2010, it wasn't until about 10 p.m. that any Powell results were at the courthouse and tabulated.

If you've got any questions about election night results or bold predictions on winners, please weigh in below in the comments section or email me. I hope you'll join me later on for the live coverage. Thanks for reading! ~CJ