Latah County election results are now official, despite opposition from the Republican Party about national election results. The county has shown a lean towards Democratic candidates over the past ten years.
The most drastic difference between this year’s election cycle and previous years was the increase in absentee voting and overall voter turnout.
“Voter turnout was about where I expected it to be,” Latah County Elections Director Jennifer Henrichs said. “We definitely had an increase in absentee voting, whether that was through the mail-in option or early voting. It was fairly consistent for our voters…for voters in similar type of elections such as president elections.”
Latah County had 27,476 registered voters for this election cycle. Of those, 20,930 voted, showing a 72.9% turnout rate, Henrichs said. There were 13,440 absentee ballots cast this year.
In comparison, Latah County reported 5,204 absentee ballots in 2016. The increase this year was most likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the national push to utilize mail-in ballots, Henrichs said.
The official results indicated no change in projected winners, only narrowing or widening gaps by small margins. Nothing seems out of the ordinary compared to previous years, Henrichs said.
According to official results, David Nelson (D) won the race for State Senator District 5 with 56.88% of Latah County’s vote. Tom Lamar (D) won the race for Latah County Commissioner District 2 with 62.76% of the vote.
Dulce Kersting-Lark (D) won Latah County for State Representative District 5 Position A with 50.54% of the vote, but lost the election to Brandon Mitchell (R) once Benewah County votes were included. Paulette Jordan (D) won Latah County with 50.37% of the vote, but lost the statewide election for U.S. Senator to Jim Risch (R). Rudy Soto (D) won Latah County with 48.23% of the vote, but lost the statewide election for Representative in Congress to Russ Fulcher (R). Caroline Nilsson Troy (R) won the race for State Representative District 5 Position B with 51.17% of Latah County’s vote.
Magistrate Megan Marshall retained her position with 88.53% of the vote. Kathie LaFortune (D), Richard Skiles (R) and W.W. Thompson (D) ran unopposed for Latah County Commissioner District 1, Latah County Sheriff and Latah County Prosecuting Attorney, respectively.
Several incumbent candidates were re-elected. Latah County Sherriff Richard Skiles won against Barry Johnson in 2016 by 72 votes. Latah County Prosecuting Attorney W.W. Thompson has won re-election uncontested for the past 10 years.
The Latah County Commissioner District 2 race brought national attention to the City of Moscow when Rench was arrested on Sept. 23 at a Christ Church Psalm Sing. Though the race was contentious, and Lamar only won his 2014 race against Shirley Greene by 626 votes, Lamar pulled away with a 25% lead. The Latah County Commissioner District 2 position has remained Democratic for the past decade.
Paulette Jordan’s governor race remained consistent in Latah County, though her lead diminished in 2020. Jordan won Latah County against Brad Little by over 2,000 votes in 2016, but only won the county against Jim Risch by 872 votes in 2020.
The presidential election results indicated similar trends, with Latah County remaining blue by voting for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016 and President Elect Joe Biden in 2020. Biden’s lead over President Donald Trump in Latah County was only 764 votes.
“We are so grateful that everyone was so patient with everything that had happened, and we did our best to get the results as quick as we could,” Henrichs said. “The results should be up on the website.”
This article has been edited to correct election results information.
Carter Kolpitcke can be reached at [email protected].