Joe Biden elected 46th US president

As ballots continued to be counted days after the Nov. 3 election, Democrat Joe Biden was declared the winner of the U.S. presidential race Saturday morning, Nov. 7.

Biden surpassed the 270 electoral votes needed for victory at approximately 9:25 a.m. MST Saturday to defeat incumbent Republican President Donald Trump.

Biden will be the 46th U.S. president, with Kamala Harris as vice president.

In Colorado, Democratic candidate John Hickenlooper ousted incumbent Republican Cory Gardner in the U.S. Senate race.

Phillips County voted Republican in both national races, with Trump gaining 79% of this county’s presidential vote and Gardner nabbing 80.4% of the county’s vote.

Republican Ken Buck retained his representative seat in the 4th Congressional District with 60.2% of the state’s vote.

Phillips County voters gave Buck 81.27% of the county’s vote, while Democrat Ike McCorkle picked up 16.3%, Libertarian Bruce Griffith 1.9% and Unity candidate Laura Ireland 0.5%.

Uncontested races on the Phillips County ballot included election for four Republicans: Rod Pelton, state representative District 65; Travis Sides, district attorney for 13th Judicial District; Garold Roberts, Phillips County commissioner District 2; and Tom Timm, Phillips County commissioner District 3.

Holyoke School District passes $2.2 million bond election

In a vote too close to call on election night, Holyoke School District narrowly approved a $2.2 million bond election that will provide matching funds for the $2.5 million Building Excellent Schools Today grant that the district has been approved for.

The school district has a majority of its voters in east Phillips County, as well as a few in Yuma and Sedgwick counties. Combining votes from all three counties, unofficial results show the bond election passed by a 36-vote margin, 800-764.

However, 17 ballots from school district residents have not yet been counted as they are part of the provisional ballot hold-out. Citing that even if all 17 votes were opposed to the bond issue it would not change the outcome, the school district moved forward with a successful bond election.

Phillips County Clerk and Recorder Beth Zilla explained that seven ballots in the county required verification of a signature or didn’t include identification, so they were held out to potentially count later. They must be returned by Thursday, Nov. 12.

However, in order for results to remain confidential from such few ballots, 15 other ballots in the county were held back to be counted with them.

10 of 11 statewide issues pass

Voters in the state of Colorado passed 10 of the 11 issues on this year’s ballot. Phillips County voters only favored five of the issues, including the one that failed in the state.

Proposition 115, which would have prohibited abortions after 22 weeks, failed in the state vote, even though Phillips County voters favored it.

The four ballot issues that passed statewide and were also favored in this county included Amendment C, conduct of charitable giving; Amendment 76, citizenship qualification of voters; Proposition 116, state income tax rate reduction; and Proposition 117, voter approval for certain new state enterprises.

The six Colorado issues that passed but were not favored in this county were Amendment B, repeal Gallagher Amendment; Amendment 77, local voter approval of casino bet limits and games in Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek; Propostion EE, taxes on nicotine products; Proposition 113, agreement to elect the U.S. president by national popular vote; Proposition 114, reintroduction and management of gray wolves; and Proposition 118, paid family and medical leave insurance program.

City results reported last week

Results for candidate elections and a ballot issue for the city of Holyoke were reported in last week’s Enterprise after the ballots were counted.

Voters in the city extended a 2.5% public lodging accommodations tax another five years to December of 2026.

Orville Tonsing was re-elected mayor, while the three council seats were won by incumbents John Schneider and Kevin Scott, as well as Ashley Sullivan.

Also reported last week, the Frenchman Groundwater Management District’s attempt at de-Brucing failed.