Foley, Dooley top town vote-getters

Jolley, Banks rack up votes in uncontested bids for re-election

With only a few contested races on the ballot, Tuesday’s primary election did not capture the attention of the voting public.
Preliminary results from the Big Horn County Clerk’s office indicate that 2,644 votes were cast across the 13 precincts. If confirmed by the canvas, it would be the poorest turnout for a primary election in at least the last 10 years.
Two years ago, 4,279 votes were cast.  In 2020, the total was 3,281.
Big Horn County did not have a contested race.  Bruce Jolley ran unopposed for the Republican nomination to retain his seat on the commission.  He was credited with 2,155 votes.
In legislative races of interest in Big Horn County, Rep. Dalton Banks was also unopposed, winning the Republican nomination in House District 26. He was credited with 1,479 votes in Big Horn County.
Further south, Martha Lawley defeated Tami Young in House District 27, John Winter defeated Kevin Skates in House District 28 and Ed Cooper defeated Tom Olmstead in Senate District 20.
All three Republican incumbents will run unopposed in the November general election.
Greybull
Tuesday’s primary was a trial run for the candidates vying for Greybull mayor and town council.
Incumbent Mayor Myles Foley was credited with 209 votes. Challenger Bill Brenner received 128.  Six write-ins were cast and there were two overvotes and 10 undervotes.
For town council, Chris Dooley earned the most votes, with 294, followed by Gerald Crist, with 259.  Steven Brown, who filed but later withdrew, was credited with 34 votes.  The council race saw eight write-ins, 2 overvotes and 113 undervotes.
The focus now shifts to the write-ins. While the mayor race shapes up as a rematch, as many as four candidates could advance to the general for the two expiring seats on the council.
In other Greybull-specific races, Kay Mattis received 391 votes and Tamara Growth 244 for precinct committeewoman.
Greybull’s precinct processed 515 ballots, with 475 of those being Republican.
Shell
One hundred-thirty votes were cast in Shell in Tuesday’s primary.
Jan Barnett was credited with 117 for Republican precinct committeewoman.  On the Democratic side, Mart Hinckley and Jade Smith each received eight votes for precinct committeeman and committeewoman, respectively.
Emblem
The Emblem precinct processed 31 votes, all of them Republican. Karen Preis and J. Gordon Preis received 31 and 29 votes, respectively for Republican precinct committeewoman and committeeman.