2002 Primary Election

Graham ousts Aronson

In shades of past county attorney races, challenger Van Graham defeated incumbent Dale Aronson for the Republican nomination for the position in Tuesday's primary.

Aronson has served as county attorney for one term, after beating incumbent Clark Allan for the position by a narrow margin in 1998. Graham's margin of victory wasn't a small one though - it totaled more than 400 votes.

Graham was humble in his victory when contacted last Tuesday night, stating: "It seems like people have something they want me to do there in that office. I'll work hard and take care of the public's business."

Graham will take office with the start of the new year.

Olsen, Cooper win

The race for who would represent the Republican party in the run for House District 22 was one of the last races called Tuesday night, with Monte Olsen of Daniel eventually coming out the winner over Jackson's Jim "Bubba" Shivler. Olsen was the challenger and Shivler the incumbent.

"I'm very happy and very excited," said Olsen in a short interview Wednesday morning, pledging to work even harder in his bid for the general election nod than he did in the primary. Olsen will face Democrat Tony Gosar of Pinedale in November's general election.

House District 20 voters elected Stan Cooper of Kemmerer over Frank Johnson for the Republican nomination. With no Democratic challenger, Cooper will take office early next year.

Kramer succeeds with write-ins

Susan Kramer of Pinedale succeeded in getting enough write-in votes to appear on the general election ballot as a Democrat for county commissioner. She'll face incumbent Republicans Betty Fear of Big Piney and Bill Cramer of Bondurant for one of two seats. William Belveal's challenge to the incumbents for the Republican primary failed, with Fear gaining the most votes (1,294), followed by Cramer's 1,198 and Belveal's 580.

Cramer stopped by the courthouse on election night to monitor the returns. When the final numbers were tallied, Cramer said: "The people have spoken. I'm honored and humbled."

Worl, Barney & Jensen to RHCD

The Sublette County Rural Health Care District board will soon have three new members, with Mary Lynn Worl of Pinedale, Bill Barney of Big Piney and Jerry Jensen of Boulder getting the vote of confidence by Sublette County voters.

The three new board members will replace outgoing members Jim Greenwood, Bob Dew and Dave Racich, none of whom sought re-election.

Schooley elected coroner

Don Schooley won the Republican nomination for county coroner. With no Democratic challenger, Schooley will replace outgoing coroner Bill Meyer.

Schooley had 711 votes, Don Pope had 676 votes and Frank Morrison had 347 votes.

County election overall

Sublette County once again had good voter turnout in Tuesday's primary election, with 61 percent of the county's registered voters casting their ballots, with Daniel having the highest voter turnout, at 71 percent.

Although the polls closed at 7 p.m., it was just two hours later that the Associated Press declared Eli Bebout the winner of the Republican governor's race in the state, reflecting how Sublette County voted in this race as well. But when it came to the Democratic nomination for governor, the county didn't agree with the other voters. While Sublette County Democrats threw their support behind Paul Hickey, the state majority vote went to Dave Freudenthal, who will now face Bebout in the general election.

A similar situation occurred in the state superintendent of public instruction race, with Sublette County Republicans voting for Jim Twiford, but the state majority giving their nod to Trent Blankenship, who will face Democrat winner Kathy Emmons in the general election.