Nielsen, Schenck hold slim leads

SANDPOINT — Mike Nielsen and Russ Schenck were in command of modest leads over incumbent Bonner County commissioners Joe Young and Lewis Rich late Tuesday night.

Nielsen had a 320-vote lead over Young for the District 2 seat on the board with 17 of 33 precincts reporting. Nielsen, a Priest Lake Republican, had 1,326 votes to Young’s 1,006. Patty Douglas Palmer, the third contestant in the hunt for the District 2 GOP nomination, had 292 votes at last report.

Schenck and Rich were locked in a much tighter race for the District 3 Republican nomination with about 51 percent of the county’s precincts reporting. Schenck had 1,125 votes to Rich’s 1,071, a margin of just 54 votes. Gene Brown trailed in his bid for the District 3 Republican nomination with 471 votes.

Incumbent Republican Assessor Jerry Clemons was pulling away from his GOP rival, Tina Harvey with 17 of 33 precincts reporting. Clemons had amassed 1,538 votes, compared to Harvey’s 1,179.

Cheryl Piehl, the incumbent Republican treasurer, appeared to building a landslide against her opponent, John Maras. Piehl had 2,067 votes, while Maras had 539 at last report.

Bud Mueller, an uncontested primary candidate for county clerk, picked up 1,640 votes with 17 of 33 precincts reporting. Incumbent Clerk Marie Scott, a Democrat without a primary challenger, had 313 votes at last report.

Brian Orr, an Oldtown Democrat running unopposed in the primary to regain his District 2 seat on the county commission had 290 votes. Melissa “Mel” Davis, a shoo-in for the Democrat nomination for the District 3 seat, had 282 votes.

With 17 precincts reporting, 2,910 votes were cast for Republicans, while 346 had been cast for Democrats.

Some of the county’s larger voting precincts — Baldy, Edgemere, Kootenai, Sandpoint and Washington — were still being counted at press time.