Swartz's lead widens

345 votes separate Grant County commissioner candidates

GRANT COUNTY - Carolann Swartz continues to lead Grant County District 2 commissioner LeRoy Allison Wednesday afternoon.

On Tuesday night, Swartz led Allison by 331 votes and Wednesday she led him by 345 votes after 4,000 more votes were counted, according to the Grant County Auditor's Office.

Swartz has 11,003 votes, or 50.8 percent, compared to Allison with 10,658 votes, or 49.2 percent, according to the county elections office.

There are 2,000 votes left to tabulate with the next count scheduled to be completed today by 4:30 p.m.

"I'm feeling really good about it," Swartz said about the results. "I was quite nervous today. I'm overwhelmed at this point."

She said she looks forward to serving the Grant County Board of County Commissioners and hopes to make taxpayers proud.

The night of the general election Swartz spent the evening at her campaign manager's home with friends, family and supporters awaiting the results.

"I've just had a lot of workers out there," she said.

The support from the community helped encourage her to work toward obtaining the position, she said. Swartz said she has a lot of energy toward the position and anticipates serving Grant County if elected.

Allison said he is bracing for a loss, but knows there are more votes to be counted and more ballots trickling into the auditor's office that were probably mailed on Tuesday.

"At this point there doesn't look like there's enough numbers to change the outcome of the race," said Allison. "I haven't conceded yet. I am waiting for the counting to finish."