by Kate Shunney
The Morgan County Clerk’s office has presented the 2020 primary election results following canvassing by county officials.
Clerk Kim Nickles announced on Thursday, June 18 at 3 p.m. the totals have been posted on the West Virginia Secretary of State’s website, the Morgan County Clerk’s website and on the door of the courthouse.
Winners of local, district and state races did not change as a result of the final count.
Nickles said a total of 89 ballots were added to the preliminary totals from June 9, including absentee ballots and provisional ballots from both early voting and election day.
The closest county race was called today as a result of the final count.
Morgan County Sheriff K.C. Bohrer won the Republican primary nomination to secure another four-year term in office. Bohrer beat former sheriff Vince Shambaugh with just 97 votes. Bohrer took in 1,971 votes to Shambaugh’s 1,874. Bohrer faces no opposition in the November general election.
The Sheriff’s race was the closest of local party primary races.
Final vote counts confirmed that Republican Debbie Weaver easily topped two challengers in a race for Assessor. Weaver faces no opponents on the ballot in November. Weaver took in 2,240 votes, while Allen Truax earned 1,000 votes and Irv Miller took in 496.
In the non-partisan election for Morgan County Magistrate, former magistrate Greg Miller emerged as the winner of a four-way race for a seat on the bench in Division 1. Miller won 1,483 votes, followed closely by Johnnie Walter with 1,289 votes. Incumbent Debbie Ditto got 1,106 votes and newcomer Angie Schmidt took in 979 votes.
Magistrate Kermit Ambrose won another term in office with no opposition.
Magistrates will take office on July 1.
In other top local races, Commissioner Joel Tuttle took in 66% of the Republican vote in his re-election bid, pushing out challenger Tim Johnson. Tuttle has no opposition on the ballot in November.
In other non-partisan races that were decided on June 9, Pete Gordon and John Rowland were re-elected to the Morgan County Board of Education with 3,493 votes and 3,080 respectively.
On Republican ballots, Prosecuting Attorney Dan James took in 3,020 votes in his bid for another term in office with no opponents.
A total of 5,148 ballots were cast in Morgan County this primary election. With 13,911 registered voters in the county, turnout between absentee ballots, early voting and election day voting was 37%.
More in-depth precinct results will be reported in next week’s issue of The Morgan Messenger.
