Hand count of Calhoun County Republican ballots takes nearly 34 hours; Best, Balajka headed to May runoff

CALHOUN COUNTY  — Republican primary unofficial results in Calhoun County were finalized Wednesday evening after a hand count of ballots that lasted more than a day. Results remain unofficial until the vote is canvassed.

Volunteers began counting early voting ballots at 7 a.m. Tuesday, March 3. The process continued overnight and concluded about 5 p.m. Wednesday, March 4, after nearly 34 hours of counting.

Republican ballots were counted by hand, while Democratic ballots were tabulated by machine.

In the Republican primary race for Calhoun County judge, Vern Lyssy received 1,748 votes to win the nomination. Stacy O’Donnell received 1,095 votes and Linda Graham received 330 votes.

Lyssy will face Democratic candidate Allen Tippit in the November general election.

In the race for County Commissioner Precinct 1, John A. Martinez received 325 votes and defeated James D. “Jim” Oliver, who received 197 votes. Martinez will face Democrat Mark Gonzales in the November election.

The County Commissioner Precinct 2 race will advance to a runoff election scheduled for May 26. Ronny Best received 377 votes while Michael Balajka received 260 votes and Patrick Petrisky received 251 votes. Due to the fact that no one received more than 50% of the votes, Best and Balajka will compete in the runoff.

In the County Commissioner Precinct 4 race, Gary D. Reese received 806 votes to defeat Daniel Bermea, who received 329 votes.

In the race for judge of the County Court at Law, James R. Beeler received 1,800 votes, while Kelly Cross received 1,037 votes.

In the Justice of the Peace Precinct 5 race, Jana Gregory received 351 votes to Sue Glover’s 130 votes.

In the race for County Constable Precinct 4, James Tolar received 368 votes. Louis E. Warren received 175 votes and Nathan Lapham received 126 votes.

Several countywide Republican candidates ran unopposed in the primary.

Sara M. Rodriguez received 2,429 votes in the race for criminal district attorney. Teresa Olascuaga Garcia received 2,488 votes for district clerk. Anna Goodman received 2,560 votes for county clerk and Rhonda S. Kokena received 2,632 votes for county treasurer.

In the Justice of the Peace races, Hope D. Kurtz received 426 votes in Precinct 1, Thomas “Tad” Dio received 688 votes in Precinct 2, Tanya D. Dimak received 532 votes in Precinct 3 and Dwana Finster received 536 votes in Precinct 4.

County officials said the counting of ballots was required to continue until all ballots were completed, resulting in one of the longest election counts in county history.