If you haven’t seen the election results yet or haven’t been a part of the voracious chat in my Telegram channel, then you don’t know that the Conservatives won big at the elections yesterday.
Here are the results based on the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee suggested ballot:
If you’re wondering why I think the conservatives have won big let me help:
Based on the KCRCC suggested ballot, conservatives won 17 of the 29 open spots in the county. Hooray!
Considering we had MASSIVE opposition trying to smash the integrity of the KCRCC, and unethical behavior by incumbents at every turn, the KCRCC held its head high and kept dirty politics out of its wheelhouse. Can’t say that about the opponents.
There was a 35.25% voter turnout for this municipal election: significantly higher than the 17.52% voter turnout at the 2019 municipal election.
On top of that, some of the races were decided by just a *handful* of votes. The Athol City Council Seat #1 had 3 people running with a spread of 5 votes between them. FIVE. Elaine Price lost the Coeur d’Alene City Council race to Kiki Miller by 49 votes. Only 49.
The most-watched races of the night were the CDA School Board of Trustees. Allie Anderton won her race over incumbent Lisa May with only 194 more votes. That race came down to the final hour of counting. Even tighter was the Bjerke/Swingrover race….Lesli Bjerke barely eked out a win in the FINAL 9 precincts counted to take the lead by only 27 votes. TWENTY-SEVEN! Whoever says their vote doesn’t matter is lying and just being lazy. Every. Vote. Matters!
We have also gained points in the overall conservatives vs. establishment races like the CDA City Council.
From Bjorn Handeen:
In 2013, Mary Souza got 42.3% vs. Widmeyer, and Joe [Alfieri] got 44.44%. Not much change. Maybe without [Michael] Lentz Joe could have gotten a few more points.
[Chris] Fillios got 41.92% against Amy Evans, Roger [Garlock] got 46.67% against her, that's a big improvement.
Sharon Hebert got 39.26% against Woody [McEvers], while JD [Claridge] got 43.01% big improvement.
Noel Adam got 39.04% against Kiki [Miller], whereas Elaine [Price] got 49.78% huge deal.
I (Bjorn Handeen) got 30.36% in 2013 for School Board Zone 5. Glen got 47.75% Huge movement.
We all lost so big in 2013, while working so hard. That in cda city elections and school boards, we couldn't even recruit candidates 4 years later...2017. But now, 2021, we are ENCOURAGED.
We may have lost this election but these facts are so encouraging that change is coming. We have to keep fighting and pushing forward and the May 2022 Primaries are next. We’ve got this. We are committed to pushing forward and encouraging more people to vote in the next election. I’ll keep you updated on what happens with that.
Also, one more note before the election night schtuff is done. Did you notice the names in Bjorn’s history lesson above? Half of them we know because they’re serving in other positions. They didn’t take their losses to heart and give up serving the public. They got back into it and moved forward with their commitments of civil service. I hope every one of our candidates that did not win last night moves forward and finds another way to serve this community.
OK I was wrong. THIS will be my last note on last night's elections.
I was honored to be a ballot counting watcher at the Election's office on behalf of candidate Sandy White (although I was there for ALL the candidates, Sandy White is just what it said on my nametag). I was there from 10am-1pm and again from 8pm-finish which came in right before 2:00am. I have never seen an Election's office run so efficiently and smoothly. They all know what they are supposed to be doing to get those ballots counts as efficiently as possible. Clerk Jim Brannon, Chief Deputy Clerk Jennifer Locke and their crew run a VERY tight ship. Everything was checked, double-checked, triple-checked and even sometimes quadruple-checked. No joke. I am *very* confident in their abilities to run a fair and HONEST election. I am highly impressed with how they do things and would be happy to speak with anyone about it. I do comment on it throughout my Telegram Channel as I was at the office last night so start here and just keep scrolling down. :)
In the meantime, the Optional Forms of Government Study Commission meeting is tonight and again, we need the room PACKED. The agenda is a doozy and I hear there’s some drama going on behind the scenes with Dave Botting. People are NOT happy with him. I can’t wait to see why.
Here is the agenda for tonight’s meeting:
Please, now that the election is over we have more time to FOCUS on those municipal meetings and getting people there in person is the most important thing. Botting already gets tripped up when the room is full, this is going to be another good one. Hopefully, everyone will know the definitions of words and don’t have to adjourn the meeting to find out, so there may be movement in procedures tonight. We will see.
I will be live-Telegramming the meeting on my Telegram page so I hope to see everyone over there if you can’t be in the room.
See you then!
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