Lincoln County’s voters were resounding in their choices in the June 2 primary election.

While vote totals are preliminary and won’t be certified until after provisional ballots are counted and the June 16 election canvas, the margins of victory suggest nothing will change.

Preliminary final results were posted on the county’s elections webpage at 2:54 a.m. Wednesday by Election Administrator Melanie Howell.

A handful of interesting races pushed voter participation to 43.92% That’s about 6.2% higher than the state voter turnout of 37.65.

For the District 1 Commissioner seat, Stu Crismore bested incumbent Brent Teske and Jeff Koskela by several hundred votes.

Crismore received 2,133 while Teske garnered 1,453 and Koskela received 1,298 votes.

Crismore will be the candidate on the ballot for the general election in November. He faced Teske in the 2022 primary when Teske was appointed to fill Mark Peck’s vacant seat after he resigned. Teske’s 2,160 votes were 140 more than Crismore’s 2020.

Teske and Koskela did not return queries asking if they will run a write-in campaign.

Crismore launched a write-in campaign in 2022, but suffered a decisive loss as Teske collected 6,890 votes to Crismore’s 963.

Crismore was appreciative of the support he received by voters as well as by those following the recent death of his mother, Carol.

“I am fortunate to have great support from family and friends, I have my faith and I know she’s in a better place,” Crismore said in a phone interview with The Western News.

Crismore also appreciated the positive tone of the campaign.

“We all treated each other with respect and people don’t like negative campaigning,” Crismore said.

Crismore said he believed his effort on the campaign trail made a big difference.

“I spent a lot of time in Eureka walking the streets, knocking on doors and talking to people and I think that I proved to people I’d work hard as their commissioner,” Crismore said.

A look at precinct results for the commissioner race bore out Crismore’s belief that his boots on the ground approach paid off.

In three Eureka precincts, Crismore had 316 votes more than Teske. In three other precincts in the north part of the county - Fortine, Trego and Rexford - Crismore enjoyed a 101-vote advantage.

Crismore lost just one of 16 precincts. In Troy No. 14, Teske had six more votes.

In the other highly anticipated race for the Clerk and Recorder seat, Crystal Denton claimed 58% of the vote for an easy win against Travis Sigea.

Both campaigns waged war on local social media sites after claims were made about Denton’s work on the night of the June 2024 primary election.

But Denton, who had worked in the Clerk and Recorder’s Office, answered the claims in a local newspaper story as well as on local social media and podcasts.

"Thank you Lincoln County for giving me this opportunity!" Denton said in a social media post. "Although the results are preliminary,  I'm confident in the end results. I feel so very honored to have received all of the amazing support and outreach through this process. Your voices are and have been so encouraging and speak in volumes for truth and love for our community."

Denton received 2,719 votes to Sigea’s 1,974, winning by 745. She won 15 of 16 precincts. In the one Sigea claimed, Trego No. 2, he won by eight votes, 70 to 62.

Two-term incumbent sheriff Darren Short easily won a third term, collecting 3,850 votes. Challengers Cody Ercanbrack, Libby police chief, received 828, while citizen Marty Dunbar got 342. Libertarian candidate Ian Smith got 34 votes. He will be on the general election ballot in November, facing Short.

"It's pretty humbling the support I've received in 2018 and now," Short said. "I really appreciate my incredible for sticking with me and hopefully, if I'm successful in November, we can continue serving the county residents."

Another local campaign that saw some social media furor was for the county Public Administrator position.

Incumbent Amanda Eckart easily maintained her seat with 3,663 votes to challenger Rocke Dean Gifford’s 794.

For state level races, in Senate District 1, Democrat Jonathan Russell Jameson was unopposed. He received 1,175 votes and will face Republican Steve Gunderson in the general election in November. Gunderson easily won his party’s nomination with 2,586 votes. Neil Duram had 1,736 votes while Vince Backen got 673.

For the state House of Representatives District 1 seat, Republican Michelle Bianco was unopposed and got 2,380 votes. She’ll face Democrat Dakota Adams. He got 499 votes to top Roberta McCanse’s 301.

For the state Rep. House District 2 seat, incumbent Republican Tom Millett collected 1,701 votes while Democrat Jane Maahs received 481 votes.

    Stu Crismore is a candidate for Lincoln County District 1 Commissioner. (Courtesy photo)
  

    Darren Short