Sprungl wins another term

October 6, 2012

In the only contested local race on the Boundary County 2012 general election ballot, incumbent sheriff Greg Sprungl (R) easily held off two challengers today to win another term. It wasn't the first piece of good news for him this month, either. The sheriff just returned this week from a trip to Texas, where his daughter, Serene, made him a grandpa.

His wife, Rose, will stay in Texas to dote on and spoil the child and mother, both doing fine, a good bit more before she flies home this weekend.

Out of 6,114 registered voters in Boundary County, 4,686, or 77-percent, turned out to vote, one of the best turnouts in recent memory.

Sprungl, who led in each precinct, garnered 2,483 votes, his closest rival, Independent candidate Gary Leonard, who campaigned tirelessly, garnered 1,460 votes. Write-in candidate Jeff Ennis (R), trailed with 420 votes.

In presidential politics, Boundary County came out strongly for Republican Mitt Romney, giving him 3,138 votes to Democrat Barack Obama's 1,225 local votes. Obama was declared the winner of the race long before Boundary County's votes were decided. The closest runner up to the two in the local race was Libertarian Gary Johnson, who received 77 votes.

U.S. Representative Raul Labrador (R) handily led in a four-way race for a second term, garnering 2,603 votes to 958 for Democratic challenger Jimmy Farris. District wide, Labrador was ahead with nearly 65-percent of the vote as of 11 p.m., with a little less than half the state's precincts reporting.

Boundary County's hunters gave a big thumbs up to HJR 2aa, to amend the Idaho Constitution to list hunting as an inalienable right, with 3,260 voting "yes" to 1,041 "no." SJR 102 to amend the state constitution regarding probation also passed locally, 3,024 in favor to 1,318 opposed. Statewide, passage of both looked assured, each being favored with 74-percent margins with 416 of 967 Idaho precincts reporting.

County voters also favored overturning the Luna Laws emplaced last year, but by much closer margins. Proposition 1 failed here with 2,430 "no" votes to 2,084 "yes," Proposition 2 with a vote of 2,502 no to 2,013 yes, and Proposition 3 by 2,976 no votes to 1,548. Statewide, "no" votes led on Proposition 1 with a 55-percent margin, Proposition 2 with 56-percent and Proposition 3 by 65-percent.

Perhaps the most surprising race in Boundary County was for District 1 Position A in the Idaho House, where challenger Andrew Sorg (D), who did little or no campaigning, garnered 1,005 local votes. Incumbent Eric Anderson (R), still had a good lead with 3,139 votes, but few expected Sorg to make such a showing.

That race won't be decided until Bonner County votes are tallied; around the time the final results were being tallied here, Bonner County, having trouble with their optical scanners, hadn't posted any results.

For complete, precinct by precinct election results, visit http://www.boundarycountyid.org/elections/2012/12general.html.