Election summary

The November 4, 2014 general election provided no surprises in Lincoln County as of 8 p.m. Tuesday night. With 46 precincts reporting, only 3,802 ballots were cast out of 6,966 registered voters for a turnout of just 54.58 percent.

The most hotly contested race in the Odessa area was that for Legislative District 13 State Representative, Pos. 1, which had Tom Dent and Dani Bolyard vying for a state legislative seat. Dent was leading by a substantial margin Tuesday evening.

U.S. Congressional Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers was far more popular in Lincoln County than in the rest of the district. In Lincoln County, she led opponent Joe Pakootas by 72.31 to 27.69 percent. Districtwide, however, the margin was only 59.43 to 40.57 percent in favor of McMorris Rodgers.

State Initiative #1351 on K-12 education scored a much larger no vote in Lincoln Co. (Yes 1,452 or 39.18%; No 2,254 or 60.82%) than in the statewide vote (Yes 591,264 or 49.43%; No 604,819 or 50.57%).

The opposite was true for State Initiative Measure # 591 on firearms, where Lincoln County voters voted yes (Yes 2,307 or 62.25%l No 1,399 or 37.75%) by a far wider margin than the rest of the state (Yes 546,375 or 45.45%; No 655,750 or 54.55%).

Similar results were found for State Initiative Measure #594 concerning background checks for firearm sales and transfers with Lincoln County voters saying no (Yes 1,197 or 31.89%; No 2,557 or 68.11%), while the rest of the state was saying yes (Yes 724,330 or 59.72%; No 488,625 or 40.28%).

A full report on the election will follow next week.