Republicans rule local elections

The Kootenai County Elections Department didn’t finish counting ballots until 4:51 a.m. Wednesday.

If you’re a Republican, the results were well worth the wait.

Sheriff Ben Wolfinger and every Republican legislative candidate from Kootenai County rolled to easy victories. So did Bob Bingham, a county commissioner-elect who was challenged by independent Russ McLain.

But one of the most entertaining races featured a man without an opponent in a nonpartisan contest. That was Magistrate Clark Peterson — the judge targeted by a heavy-spending group intent on bringing his judicial job to an abrupt and embarrassing end. Yet the final tally wasn’t even close, with Peterson being retained by a 38,945-14,129 margin.

If his foes could take any solace, it was in the fact that Peterson’s race was much closer than the other two magistrates on the ballot.

“I’m honored to be retained as magistrate judge and I’ll continue to do the people’s work with a dedication to our laws and constitutional principles, with fairness and compassion, to the best of my ability,” Peterson said in a

statement to The Press.

Voter turnout was something of a victory in itself. A total of 67,952 Kootenai County residents cast ballots in this presidential election, a healthy 87.25 percent of registered voters. While the county didn’t calculate voter turnout in 2012, it was 86.86 percent in 2008 and 86.84 percent in 2004.

For complete but unofficial Kootenai County voting tallies, see the chart on page A5.