In a Primary Election with a reported record turnout, Secretary of State, Paul Pate, says more than 522,000 ballots were cast Tuesday night. This represents slightly over 24 percent of registered voters. Earlier this year, Pate sent every registered voter a ballot request form, urging them to vote early and by mail in an effort to help stem the spread of COVID-19. The pandemic resulted in the reduction of Primary polling locations across the region, with Carroll County paring down to a single one, and now that the numbers are in, the absentee ballots greatly outpaced in-person voting locally. Carroll County Auditor, Kourtney Irlbeck, reported there were a total of 3,167 votes cast from the 14,469 registered voters, a nearly 22 percent turnout. However, of those, 2,691 from the 13 precincts were absentee. In the high-profile locally contested races, Carroll County Republican Party Chair, Craig Williams, faced off against Heath Hansen in the 6th District Iowa Senate Primary. Williams has been named the unofficial winner with 3,081 votes to Hansen’s 1964. In Sac County, two Republicans were seeking the nomination for the Sheriff’s position. Incumbent, Ken McClure won out over Lake View Police Chief, Royce Kemmann, with 1,200 votes to Kemmann’s 721. And in a race drawing national attention, that for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District spot on the November ballot, Randy Feenstra defeated Incumbent, Steve King with 36,797 votes to King’s 28,977. However, the night started out with a showing in King’s favor. He carried the six local counties in his district with a total of 3,820 votes to Feenstra’s 2,226. It was later in the evening, after 35 of the 39 counties reported, that the tide shifted and the gap became insurmountable for King. Results for the entire state, broken down by county and precinct, can be found by following the link included below. Carroll Broadcasting will bring you more from the local winners in upcoming newscasts.
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Link to Iowa Secretary of State Election Results for June 2, 2020: https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/IA/103296/web.247524/#/summary