Results still aren’t final for the hotly contested 1st District congressional race, but the AP is reporting that with 97 percent of the vote counted, state Rep. Bill Sali of Kuna still holds a comfortable lead with 26 percent of the vote in the six-way race. Here are the numbers:

With 437 of 450 precincts reporting (97%):

Bill Sali: 17,822 – 26%
Sheila Sorensen: 12,855 – 19%
Keith Johnson: 12,263 – 18%
Robert Vasquez: 11,932 – 17%
Norm Semanko: 7,356 – 11%
Skip Brandt: 6,115 – 9%

On the Democratic side, former Micron executive Larry Grant of Fruitland had 10,492 votes or 75 percent, over Cecil Kelly III, who had 3,559 or 25 percent.

Think all these numbers sound a bit on the small side for a major decision like who should be the next congressman? They are. Turnout was low, low, low. There are no statewide figures yet, but in Kootenai County, just 24.5 percent of registered voters cast ballots, and in Ada County, it was just 21.4 percent.

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