Allison holds tight lead in commish race

Challenger Baker hopeful for incoming absentee votes

Grant County Commissioner LeRoy Allison holds a slim lead over challenger Ron Baker in the Republican primary.

At last count Tuesday night, Allison held a 28-vote lead over Baker, 1,327 to 1,299, with a couple thousand absentee ballots left to be counted, according the Grant County Auditor's Office.

The difference between the two candidates is just above 1 percent. An automatic recount is triggered when the difference is .5 percent, according to the auditor's office.

If the vote count holds as is, Allison will face Democrat Ritchie Norman, who received 912 votes in an uncontested primary, on Nov. 2.

Allison said the closeness of the race came about because of the "contested issues," of the race, including budgetary concerns and paying conscripted attorneys.

Allison also credited his opponent for a good campaign.

"I think Ron ran a really good race. He obviously did a lot of things right in the race," Allison said. "It's obvious he had a lot of support from elected officials."

Allison said he expects the results to hold the same, and he doesn't expect to change much of his strategy moving into the general election.

"I'm going to be moving forward with the team that has been helping me, and we'll run a clean race," he said.

But Baker is not yet willing to concede, saying he does not know where the absentee ballots come from. If the majority are from Moses Lake, where Baker lives, he said he thinks he has a good chance.

Baker added that he had hoped the contest would be a little further apart one way or another so he would know the outcome sooner.

"I didn't know what to expect," he said of the primary election.

Neither of the candidates in the other open commission seat faced a primary opponent. Incumbent Tim Snead, a Democrat, received 1,087 votes in the new Montana primary.

Irrigator Rich Stevens, the Republican challenger, received 1,585 votes.