LARNED – The ballots had all been counted and the results posted on the white board in the Pawnee County Courthouse first-floor lobby; all but the one that most had been waiting for. At 9:55 p.m. Tuesday, the final race was posted and, come January when newly-elected officials take office, the county’s residents will see something that hasn’t occurred since 2009.
Pawnee County has a new sheriff.
Larry K. Atteberry, a first-time elected official, third-generation law enforcement officer and military veteran, won Tuesday’s general election race for Pawnee County Sheriff by a nearly 2-to-1 margin over Sheriff Scott King, who was seeking his fifth term in office.
For both candidates, the year-long campaign road was a rugged one. Atteberry beat King on the Republican primary ballot in August by 168 official votes as canvassed by the Pawnee County Commissioners, 729-561.
King, who faced opposition only once before in gaining four successive terms, then launched a write-in campaign in the three months leading up to Tuesday’s general election. A final count of write-in votes also integral to the sheriff’s race delayed Tuesday’s counting process.
Pawnee County Clerk Stacey Rein said that although the electronic counter processing Pawnee County’s paper ballots could read darkened ovals on each ballot effectively, a follow-up of the digital count was made with a team of election volunteers, who checked to see if there were any blank ovals among the write-in votes that the digital counter would have missed.
Any legible write-in votes, whether they had darkened ovals or not, by state statute, were included in the hand-counted process.
Tuesday’s unofficial vote tally showed Atteberry winning the race with 1,661 votes, compared to King’s 861, for 65% of total votes cast.
Rein noted that the vote count will not become official until it is canvassed by the Pawnee County Commissioners at 9 a.m. Nov. 18. At that time, the Commissioners will also be tasked to consider 68 provisional ballots not part of the unofficial tally.
Other contested races
Republican candidates dominated the remaining contested races on the Pawnee County ballot.
Republican Donald Trump was a clear winner in the Presidential race, with 1,970 votes cast; Democratic candidate Kamala Harris received 611. In the race for 33rd district in the Kansas Senate, Tory Marie Blew was also a clear winner with 2,003 votes, over Democratic candidate Matthew Westenfeld with 534. U.S. First District Rep. Tracy Mann also dominated with 1,040 votes, compared to Democratic candidate Paul Buskirk’s 232, and Kansas 113th District Rep. Brett Fairchild retained his seat with 1,437 votes compared to Democratic opposition Jo Ann Roth, with 571.
The special question on liquor by the drink passed by a vote of 1,704 “yes” to 808 “no.”
