UPDATE: Kelly, Davis, Blankenship elected to Moscow City Council

UPDATE: Sandra Kelly, Drew Davis and Bryce Blankenship have earned seats on the Moscow City Council.

With 100% of precincts reporting in as of early this morning, Kelly received 3,247 votes, Davis 3,017 votes and Blankenship 2,713 votes.

The complete but unofficial vote tallies were published on on the Idaho Secretary of State website, last updated at 2:20 a.m.

Voters picked up to three of the six candidates, with the top three vote-getters earning city council spots. 

Evan Holmes (2,310 votes), Joe Campbell (1,147 votes) and Nathan Tupper (711 votes) were also on the ballot.

In Juliaetta, Richard Groseclose was elected mayor with 91 votes, ahead of Eric McDowell (39 votes) and Jeff Lohman (25 votes).

ORIGINAL STORY

Early unofficial results show Sandra Kelly, Bryce Blankenship and Drew Davis as the top three vote-getters in the Moscow City Council race Tuesday night.

Six candidates ran for three seats. Not all of the precinct results were released by press time, but early votes were reported on the Idaho Secretary of State website.

The top three vote-getters were incumbent Kelly with 1,093 votes, Bryce Blankenship with 828 and incumbent Drew Davis with 766.

They are leading Evan Holmes, Joe Campbell and Nathan Tupper.

In the Juliaetta mayor election, incumbent Richard Groseclose is leading Eric McDowell by four votes to three.

In a change from previous elections, all the Latah County ballots were counted by hand on Election Day before they are counted electronically today.

The hand count is part of Latah County Auditor Julie Fry’s effort to promote trust in the voting process. She said last month that by cross-checking the hand count with the electronic count, voters can have confidence in the accuracy of the voting machines.

Thirty-two volunteers gathered at the Latah County Fairgrounds on Thursday to help hand-count the ballots.

The volunteers raised their hand and were sworn in by a county employee before beginning their task.

The volunteers separated into teams of four: a reader, an observer and two people who tally votes.

The reader announces the names of the candidates who received votes on each ballot. Two people tally those votes while an observer helps ensure the count is accurate.

The volunteers adhered to the Idaho Secretary of State’s guidelines for counting paper ballots. For example, if a citizen votes for too many candidates in a particular race, that vote will not be counted.

During this year’s March and May elections, random precincts were picked to count votes by hand. Those tallies accurately matched the voting machine’s results, Fry said.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.