Hinsdale County voters in record droves maintained the status quo on Tuesday as they handily returned two incumbent County Commissioners to successive four-year terms, and affirmed Undersheriff Denim Starnes who was elected to a four-year term as Hinsdale County Sheriff, the 38th sheriff in the county’s 150-year history.
Again, indicating voter satisfaction with the current slate of the county’s elected officers, Hinsdale County Coroner Lori Lawrence, running unopposed, received 479 votes, the highest vote tally of any candidate in this year’s General Election.
Hinsdale County Clerk & Recorder Joan Roberts credited “smooth and efficient” work on the part of her staff, Deputy County Clerk Allison Athey and election judges, for a speedy turn around which allowed election results to be checked and double checked, with formal announcement of election results prior to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
At poll closing at 7 p.m. on a cold and snowing election evening Tuesday, the clerk’s office reported a tremendous 88 percent return of the 692 ballots which were mailed to registered voters last month.
Of the 692 ballots sent to the county’s voters, 608 ballots were returned either by mail, hand delivery to the clerk’s office, or drop off in the county courthouse outside ballot box prior to Tuesday evening’s deadline.
Election judges Alice Attaway, Karen McClatchie, Peggy Bales, Lorie Stewart, and Kathleen Whinnery Murphy smoothly processed this year’s ballots, reporting no provisional ballots which were left uncounted.
In the county’s two tightest, contested election races, Unaffiliated incumbent District 1 Commissioner Greg Levine garnered a total of 343 votes county-wide compared to his Republican rival, Steve Ryals, who received 245 votes.
Incumbent District 3 County Commissioner Robert Hurd, a Republican, was unopposed in his quest for re-election and received 443 votes, second highest vote tally among local candidates in Tuesday’s election.
A second contested local election was for Hinsdale County Sheriff with an unprecedented three candidates who were vying to fill the vacancy resulting from last summer’s resignation of Chris Kambish.
Since Kambish’s June, 2024, departure, the role of Hinsdale County Sheriff has been filled by former Sheriff Ron Bruce who was drafted to fill the position with the stated intent of once again retiring from office after the new sheriff is sworn into office on January 8 next year.
Top vote recipient in the sheriff’s election was Unaffiliated candidate Denim Starnes, with 343 votes, who is currently Hinsdale County Undersheriff.
Starnes was challenged by two candidates, Republican Jordan Kaminski, a former Hinsdale County Undersheriff, who received 186 votes, and a total of 42 votes were tallied for write-In candidate John Thomas Stratton.
In other regional election results, traditionally GOP-leaning Hinsdale County awarded a near-identical number of votes to Gunnison County Democrat Kathleen Curry who was vying for the District 58 State Representative seat against Republican Larry Don Suckla. Within the county, Suckla was slightly ahead in Tuesday evening’s tally with 288 votes compared to Curry’s 262; district-wide and according to the Colorado Secretary of State’s cumulative tally Wednesday morning, Suckla was declared the winner with a 52.90 percent vote tally, 26,730, compared to 47.10 percent, 23,795, for Curry.
Montrose Republican Marc Catlin was similarly triumphant in the district-wide vote tally for District 5 State Senator, Catlin receiving a total of 41,977 votes, 52.02 percent, compared to 38,718, 47.98 percent, for his Democratic challenger, Cole Buerger.
In Hinsdale County in the District 5 State Senate race, Catlin received 336 votes, 216 votes going to Buerger.
Predictably Republican leanings were also evident among Hinsdale County voters in the U.S. Presidential race, the Lake City tally after close of polls on Tuesday awarding 329 votes to Donald J. Trump and 252 votes Democratic challenger Kamala Harris. State-wide, as was heavily reported, Colorado voters on whole favored Democrat Harris, 51 percent with 1,374,175, compared to 1,084,812 votes — 43.1 percent — which were awarded to Trump.
Other elections of interest include 7th Judicial District Attorney Seth Ryan, an incumbent, who was the sole candidate, receiving 342 Hinsdale County votes. The rub, however, is that Ryan resigned on September 24; state-wide, the 37,727 votes cast for Ryan now go to his replacement, Anna Cooling, who was named by the vacancy committee.
The results for state ballot questions are as follows: Amendment G – “shall there be an amendment to the Colorado Constitution concerning the expansion of eligibility for the property tax exemption for veteran’s with a disability to include a veteran who does not have a service- connected disability rated as a one hundred percent permanent disability but does have individual employment status?” State-wide, this measure passed, with 72.45% of voters voting “yes” and 27.55% of voters voting “no.” In Hinsdale County the Amendment G vote was 396 yes, 163 no.
Amendment H – shall there be an Amendment to the Colorado Constitution concerning judicial discipline, and in connection therewith, establishing an Independent judicial discipline adjudicative board, setting standards for judicial review of a discipline case, and clarifying when discipline proceedings become public? This measure passed, with 72.74% of Colorado voters voting “yes” and 27.26% of voters voting “no.” Hinsdale County voters: 378 yes, 162 no.
Amendment I – shall there be an amendment to the Colorado Constitution concerning creating an exception to the right to bail for cases of murder in the first degree when proof is evident or presumption is great? This measure passed, with 69.39% of voters voting “yes” and 30.61% of voters voting “no”. Hinsdale County: 384 yes, 173 no.
Amendment J – shall there be an amendment to the Colorado Constitution removing the ban on same-sex marriage? This measure passed, with 63.78% of voters voting “yes” and 36.22% of voters voting “no.” Hinsdale County: 300 yes, 269 no.
Amendment K – shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution concerning the modification of certain deadlines in connection with specified elections? This measure did not pass, with 55.31% of voters voting “no” and 44.69% of voters voting “yes.” Hinsdale County: 208 yes, 324 no.
Amendment 79 – shall there be a change to the Colorado Constitution recognizing the right to an abortion, and, in connection therewith, prohibiting the state and local governments from denying , impending or discriminating against the exercise of that right, allowing abortion to be a covered service under health insurance plans for Colorado state and local government employees and for enrollees in state and local government insurance programs? This measure passed, with 61.48% of voters voting “yes” and 38.52% of voters voting “no.” Hinsdale County: 318 yes, 262 no.
Amendment 80 – shall there be an amendment to the Colorado Constitution establishing the right to school choice for children in kindergarten through 12th grade, and, in connection therewith, declaring that school includes neighborhood, charter, and private schools; home schooling; open enrollment options; and future innovations in education? This measure did not pass, with 52.06 % of voters voting “no” and 47.94% of voters voting “yes.” Hinsdale County: 326 yes, 239 no.
Proposition JJ – without raising taxes, may the state keep and spend all sports betting tax revenue above voter-approved limits to fund water conservation and protection projects instead of refunding revenue to casinos? This measure passed, with 75.86% of voters voting “yes” and 24.14% of voters voting “no.” Hinsdale County: 425 yes, 146 no.
Proposition KK – shall state taxes be increased by $39,000,000 annually to fun mental health services including for military veterans and at-risk youth, school safety and gun violence prevention and support services for victims of domestic violence and other violent crimes by authorizing a tax on gun dealers, gun manufacturers, and ammunition vendors at the rate of 6.5% of the net taxable sales from the retail sale of any gun, gun precursor part, or ammunition, with the state keeping and spending all of the new taxable revenue as a voter-approved revenue change? This measure passed, the 54.16% of voters voting “yes” and 45.84% of voters voting “no.” Hinsdale County: 219 yes, 358 no.
Proposition 127 – shall there be a change to the Colorado Revised Statutes concerning a prohibition on the hunting of mountain lions, lynx, and bobcats, and, in connection therewith, prohibiting the intentional killing, wounding, pursuing, entrapping, or discharging or releasing of a deadly weapon at a mountain lion, lynx, or bobcat; creating eight exceptions to this prohibition including for the protection of human life, property, and livestock; establishing a violation of this prohibition as a class 1 misdemeanor; and increasing fines and limiting wildlife license privileges for persons convicted of this crime? This measure did not pass, with 55.50% of voters voting “no” and 44.50% of voters voting “yes.” Hinsdale County: 183 yes, 408 no.
Proposition 128 – shall there be a change to Colorado Revised Statutes concerning parole eligibility for an offender convicted of certain crimes, and in connection therewith, requiring an offender who is convicted of second degree murder; first degree assault; class 2 felony kidnapping; sexual assault; first degree arson; first degree burglary; or aggravated robbery committed on or after January 1, 2025, to serve 85% of the sentence imposed before being eligible for parole, and requiring an offender convicted of any such crime committed on or after January 1, 2025, who was previously convicted of any two crimes of violence, not just those crimes enumerated in this measure, to serve the full sentence before beginning to serve parole? This measure passed, with 62.38% of voters voting “yes” and 37.62% of voters voting “no.” Hinsdale County: 365 yes, 196 no.
Proposition 129 – shall there be a change to Colorado Revised Statutes creating a new veterinary professional associate profession, and, in connection therewith, establishing qualifications including a master’s degree in veterinary clinical care or the equivalent as determined by the state board of veterinary medicine to be a veterinary professional associate; requiring registration with the state board; allowing a registered veterinary professional associate to practice veterinary medicine under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian; and making it a misdemeanor to practice as a veterinary professional associate without an active registration? This measure passed, with 52.38% of voters voting “yes” and 47.62% of voters voting “no.” Hinsdale County: 301 yes, 252 no.
Proposition 130 – shall there be a change to Colorado Revised Statutes concerning state funding for peace officer training and support, and, in connection therewith, directing the legislature to appropriate 350 million dollars to the peace officer training and support fund for municipal and county law enforcement agencies to hire and retain peace officers; allowing the fund to be used for pay, bonuses, initial and continuing education and training, and a death benefit for a peace officer, police, fire and first responder killed in the line of duty; and requiring the funding to supplement existing appropriations? This measure passed, with 53.12% of voters voting “yes” and 46.88% of voters voting “no.” Hinsdale County: 366 yes, 209 no.
Proposition 131 – shall there be a change to Colorado Revised Statutes creating new election processes for certain federal and state offices, and, in connection therewith, creating a new all-candidate primary election for U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, governor, attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer, CU board of regents, state board of education, and the Colorado state legislature; allowing voters to vote for any one candidate per office, regardless of the voter’s or candidate’s political party affiliation; providing that the four candidates for each office who receive the most votes advance to the general election; and in the general election, allowing voters to rank candidates for each office on their ballot, adopting a process for how the ranked votes are tallied, and determining the winner to be the candidate with the highest number of votes in the final tally? This measure did not pass, with 55.20% of voters voting “no” and 44.80% of voters voting “yes.” Hinsdale County: 231 yes, 334 no.
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