Seven percent of county voters cast primary ballots

A small turnout of state primary voters in Annandale, Wright County and Minnesota last week narrowed the field of candidates for the Nov. 7 general election.  In Annandale, only 128 people voted Tuesday, Sept. 12, while another 32 cast absentee ballots, chief election judge Roni Walburn said.  In Wright County, about 7 percent of registered voters cast ballots, and only about 16 percent voted across the state.  The results, with all 4,121 precincts reporting, are:  Republican Mark Kennedy, DFLer Amy Klobuchar and Independence Party candidate Robert Fitzgerald will compete for the U.S. Senate seat.  Kennedy with 147,091 votes eliminated John Uldrich, 10,025 votes, and Harold Shudlick, 5,941 votes, for the Republican nomination.  Klobuchar won the DFL nomination with 294,670 votes over Darryl Stanton with 23,872.  And Fitzgerald captured the Independence nomination with 5,532 votes vs. 2,589 for Miles W. Collins and 2,575 for Stephen Williams.  In the race for governor and lieutenant governor, incumbents Tim Pawlenty and Carol Molnau will carry the Republican banner against Mike Hatch and Judi Dutcher for the DFL and Peter Hutchinson and Maureen Reed for the Independence Party.  Pawlenty and Molnau with 147,622 votes eliminated Sue Jeffers and Ruth Hendrycks with 18,490 to take the Republican nomination.  Hatch and Dutcher collected 231,642 votes to win the DFL nomination over Becky Lourey and Tim Baylor with 77,430 votes and Ole Savior and Dan Fisher with 7,397.  Hutchinson and Reed received 7,725 votes to eliminate Pam Ellison and Kari Johnson, 3,964, for the Independence Party nomination.  For secretary of state, it will be incumbent Republican Mary Kiffmeyer vs. Mark Ritchie of the DFL and Joel Spoonheim for the Independence Party.   Ritchie eliminated Dick Franson 189,518 to 75,938. Kiffmeyer, unopposed, had 145,477 votes, and Spoonheim, also without opposition, received 9,694 votes.  For attorney general, Lori Swanson of the DFL will oppose Jeff Johnson for the Republicans and John James for the Independence Party.  Swanson won the DFL nomination with 125,412 votes over Steve Kelley, 112,150, and Bill Luther, 62,824.  Johnson eliminated Sharon Anderson 86,262 to 62,458.  And James with 3,237 votes emerged as the Independence candidate over Richard Bullock, 2,913, Dale Nathan, 2,699, and Jual Carlos Carlson, 1,681.  Walburn estimated about 15 Annandale voters used the new AutoMARK ballot marking machine.  Every precinct in Wright County and the state was equipped with the new automatic voting machine. It was intended to help disabled voters but anyone can use it.  Sept. 12 was also the filing deadline for the Annandale City Council, but no new candidates came forward, Walburn said.  Incumbent Marian "Sam" Harmoning and Dan Snabb are candidates for a two-year mayoral term.  Brennan "Buck" McAlpin, John "Jack" Driste and Gary D’Heilly are candidates for two four-year council positions.