With every ballot now counted, local turnout in the Nov. 8 general election reached 91.32 percent among registered voters, according to official election results from the Grand County Clerk’s Office.
The final results did not change the outcomes in any of the contested races for local office, including four seats on the Grand County Council and one seat on the Grand County Board of Education.
But in the top-ballot race for president, Republican President-elect Donald J. Trump built up his previous two-vote lead over Democrat Hillary Clinton in Grand County by another 13 votes, giving him 1,975 votes – or 42.93 percent, compared to 1,960 votes, or 42.60 percent for Clinton.
In comparison, Democratic State Senate candidate Heidi Redd won 2,544 votes in Grand County – or 56.61 percent, even though incumbent Republican David Hinkins won the district-wide race by a margin of nearly 70 percent to 30 percent. And while Democratic congressional candidate Stephen Tryon was no match for incumbent GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz district-wide, Tryon was less than 2 percentage points behind Chaffetz in Grand County, winning 2,210 votes – or 250 votes more than Clinton won locally – compared to 2,299 votes for Chaffetz.
In other key races, Democrat Bill Groff won more than 60 percent of the county vote for the State House District 70 seat, but Republican Carl Albrecht won the district-wide race by a margin of more than 78 percent to Groff’s 21 percent. Former Democrat turned Republican Christine Watkins also defeated incumbent State House District 69 Democrat Brad King – albeit by a narrower margin of 51.32 percent to 48.68 percent, although King won the Grand County portion of the district by 10 votes.
