Joe Zemba
Bent County Democrat
Roughly three quarters of the electorate, 74.3 percent of registered voters in Bent County, cast their ballot on, or before, November 5, wheres local voters, known, at times, to overlook party affiliation, unanimously preferred republican candidates over their democratic counterpart.
President-elect Donald Trump earned just over 68 percent of the vote total, 1,470 votes, to Kamala Harris’ 29.43 percent, 663 votes.
Third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who dropped out of the race several weeks prior and endorsed Trump, earned 29 votes.
Statewide, Harris earned the state’s 10 electoral college votes having earned a majority of the vote total.
In a closely watched race to fill the United State House of Representatives District 4 seat vacated by Ken Buck earlier this year, Republicans held on to the seat as Lauren Boebert defeated Democratic rival Trisha Calvarse.
In Bent County, Boebert received 1,288 votes to Calvarese’s 670.
In likely the most hotly contested race countywide, Republican Jennifer Scofield fended off Democrat turned Unaffiliated former Bent County Commissioner Bill Long 1,314-778 for the District 1 Commissioner seat.
Below are a full list of election results of election results for Bent County, including statewide/districtwide results:
State Board of Education – District 4
Bent County
Kristi Burton Brown (REP) 1,384
Krista Holtzman (DEM) 638
Districtwide
Kristi Burton Brown (REP) 259,899
Krista Holtzman (DEM) 168,697
Regent of the University of Colorado – At Large
Bent County
Eric Rinard (REP) 1,357
Elliott Hood (DEM) 550
Statewide
Eric Rinard (REP) 1,335,518
Elliott Hood (DEM) 1,447,797
State Representative – District 47
Bent County
Elizabeth Bulthuis (DEM) 560
Ty S. Winter (REP) 1,489
Districtwide
Elizabeth Bulthuis (DEM) 14,398
Ty S. Winter (REP) 29,555
District Attorney – 16th Judicial District
Bent County
James R. Bullock (REP) 1,530
Bent County Commissioner – District 1
Jennifer Schoffield (REP) 1,314
Bill Long (UAF) 778
Bent County Commissioner – District 3
Phil Hemphill (REP) 1,453
District Court Judge – 16th Judicial District
Shall Judge Samuel Scott Vigil of the 16th Judicial District be retained in office?
Yes 1,359
No 557
Bent County Court Judge
Shall Judge Lance P. Clark of the Bent County Court be retained in office?
Yes 1,337
No 593
Amendment G – PASSED
This constitutional amendment expands the number of veterans living with a disability who qualify for a property tax exemption for a portion of the value of their primary residence. Until now, what’s known as the homestead exemption was limited to veterans with a fully permanent service-related disability. Under Amendment G, it will include veterans with a significant service-connected disability that makes them unable to work, what the Veterans Administration classifies as having “individual unemployability” status. Nonpartisan legislative staff estimate this change will cover around 3,400 additional veteran homeowners.
As an amendment, this needed 55 percent of the vote to pass.
Bent County
Yes 1,351
No 716
Statewide
Yes 2,163,554
No 797,994
Amendment H – PASSED
Lawmakers asked voters to change the rules for how Colorado handles misconduct within the judicial branch. This amendment sets up a new independent judicial discipline board, made up of judges, attorneys and members of the public. The board will conduct disciplinary hearings and hear appeals of informal remedial sanctions handed down by the Commission on Judicial Discipline.
As an amendment, this needed 55 percent of the vote to pass.
Bent County
Yes 1,174
No 854
Statewide
Yes 2,105,798
No 778,277
Amendment I – PASSED
This constitutional amendment makes first-degree murder suspects ineligible for bail, as long as prosecutors can show they have a strong enough case. Currently, the state constitution says that only people charged with “capital offenses” can be denied bail. When the state had the death penalty, that applied to anyone charged with first degree murder (which was potentially punishable by death). But last year, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that since Colorado has done away with capital punishment, first-degree murder no longer constitutes a capital offense. In practical terms, changing the wording of the constitution returns the state to the bail policies it had in place before lawmakers repealed the death penalty.
As an amendment, this needed 55 percent of the vote to pass.
Bent County
Yes 1,226
No 829
Statewide
Yes 2,018,386
No 930,012
Amendment J – PASSED
This referred measure strikes out language in the state constitution that reads: “Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state.” Colorado voters put the gay marriage ban in the state constitution in 2006.
Because Amendment J removes language from the state constitution, it only needed 50 percent of the vote to pass.
Bent County
Yes 765
No 1,319
Statewide
Yes 1,937,962
No 1,077,352
Amendment K – FAILED
This constitutional amendment would have moved up by one week the deadline for citizen initiatives to file their petition signatures. The same change would have also applied to the Declaration of Intent judges and justices must file if they seek to run for retention. Additionally, it required nonpartisan research staff to publish the official text and titles of ballot measures a month earlier.
As an amendment, it would have needed 55 percent of the vote to pass.
Bent County
Yes 583
No 1,425
Statewide
Yes 1,226,869
No 1,559,509
Amendment 79 – PASSED
This amendment cements a right to legal abortion in the state constitution and constrains future legislatures from passing laws that limit access. It also lifts a ban on public funding for abortion that voters approved 40 years ago. This could allow Colorado to cover more abortions under Medicaid and for the state and local governments to add abortion coverage to their employee health insurance plans.
This race was called by the Associated Press around 8:30 p.m. on election night. As an amendment, it needed at least 55 percent of the vote to pass.
Bent County
Yes 866
No 1,213
Statewide
Yes 1,878,412
No 1,156,184
Amendment 80 – FAILED
This amendment would enshrine in the state constitution the right of parents to choose the type of education to give their children, from kindergarten to 12th grade, including neighborhood, charter and private schools, homeschooling, open enrollment option and “future innovations in education.”
As an amendment, this needed 55 percent of the vote to pass.
Bent County
Yes 1,005
No 1,078
Statewide
Yes 1,469,362
No 1,521,939
Proposition JJ – PASSED
This allows Colorado to keep and spend all of the tax revenue it collects from sports betting. When voters approved sports betting five years ago, the state estimated it would yield about $29 million in tax revenue each year. However, state economists now believe the 10 percent tax on betting operations will bring in significantly more than that in the coming years. The additional money will go to water conservation and protection projects.
Bent County
Yes 1,227
No 841
Statewide
Yes 2,289,847
No 708,196
Proposition KK – PASSED
This proposal imposes a new 6.5 percent excise tax on gun and ammunition sales, with the money raised by the tax going to behavioral health supports for veterans and youth, as well as school safety and gun violence prevention programs and services for victims of domestic violence and other violent crimes.
Bent County
Yes 604
No 1,486
Statewide
Yes 1,639,426
No 1,377,657
Proposition 127 – FAILED
This initiative would have ended the hunting seasons for mountain lions and bobcats in Colorado, and barred the state from ever allowing lynx hunting (lynx, which were reintroduced in Colorado in 1999, are still considered endangered by the state). Big cats could still have been killed by state or federal employees as a part of population management efforts or, with state permission, by ranchers to prevent livestock depreciation. People who accidentally hit an animal with their car would not have been penalized.
Bent County
Yes 609
No 1,463
Statewide
Yes 1,349,883
No 1,639,659
Proposition 128 – PASSED
Under Prop. 128, people convicted of certain offenses will have to serve at least 85 percent of their sentence before becoming eligible for parole or early release for good behavior. That’s an increase from current law, which allows inmates to apply for discretionary parole after they’ve served at least three-quarters of their sentence, or even sooner if they’ve earned time off through good behavior while incarcerated. The list of covered crimes includes murder, sexual assault, aggravated robbery, and serious cases of assault, kidnapping, arson and burglary.
Bent County
Yes 1,468
No 593
Statewide
Yes 1,831,605
No 1,115,929
Proposition 129 – PASSED
The measure creates a new mid-level position — between a vet technician who has a two-year associate’s degree and a veterinarian who has eight or more years of education — called a veterinary professional associate, or VPA. VPAs would be people with masters degrees in veterinary care who could diagnose animals, perform routine surgeries, and order and perform tests and procedures under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian.
Bent County
Yes 1,011
No 1,043
Statewide
Yes 1,538,616
No 1,380,834
Proposition 130 – PASSED
This measure would require the state government to set aside $350 million in a dedicated fund for law enforcement. The money would go toward giving grants to local departments to help with hiring, training and retaining officers, as well as a new $1 million death benefit for the families of law enforcement killed on the job.
Bent County
Yes 1,159
No 904
Statewide
Yes 1,551,489
No 1,385,801
Proposition 131 – FAILED
The way Colorado conducts its state and federal elections would have changed in two significant ways under this initiative:
No more party primaries: Instead of having each party pick its own candidate for the general election, all qualified contenders in a given race would be placed on the same primary ballot. The top four vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, would move on to the general election.
Ranked-choice voting for general elections: Ahead of the November election, voters would get a ballot listing the four candidates. Instead of selecting just one, voters would rank some or all of them in order of preference. All voters’ rankings would be combined in a mathematical process to determine the winner. This version of ranked-choice voting is also known as “instant runoff voting.”
Bent County
Yes 821
No 1,234
Statewide
Yes 1,351,656
No 1,568,227
