Write-in candidate wins sheriff post

Shoshone County Undersheriff Mitch Alexander wasn’t planning to run for the county’s top law enforcement position after his boss, Sheriff Chuck Reynalds, was defeated in the primary.

But when Gary Yergler, a Kellogg policeman Alexander counts as a friend, won the May 27 primary and asked him to submit a resume to show his qualifications, he changed his mind and launched a campaign that ended with him winning Tuesday’s general election by almost 1,000 votes.

Here’s the hard-to-believe part: He did it as a write-in candidate.

“I don’t think it’s ever happened in county government,” said Sherry Krulitz, a Shoshone County commissioner and Alexander’s mother-in-law. “It has happened in city government. You see that in smaller cities every so often; it only takes 20 votes to beat the guy that got 18.”

Winning as a write-in is much more difficult in large urban areas, said retired North Idaho College political science instructor Tony Stewart. Crucial to a victory like that, Stewart said, is being well-known in a community and being able to communicate with almost every voter.

Alexander, a 16-year veteran of the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office who grew up in Mullan, said that’s precisely what he did.

“For two months, I went door to door and knocked on almost every door in the county,” Alexander said. “People told me it couldn’t be done (but) I think you can do anything in life if you put your mind to it. I was always brought up that hard work pays off.”

Alexander said during the campaign, he remained in close contact with opponent and fellow Democrat, Gary Yergler. The truth, Yergler said, is that Alexander out-worked him.

“Mitch worked his butt off, and he earned the trust of the people in Shoshone County,” Yergler said. “My hat’s off to him. He went out and did it the old-fashioned way.”

In other North Idaho election news, Bonner County delivered some of the state’s final precinct results shortly after 11 a.m. Wednesday, according to the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office. Due to rainy weather and high humidity, Bonner County had trouble with its vote tabulator all night, said Betsie Kimbrough, election division supervisor for the secretary of state. Like many others, the county uses an oval optical scanner, she said.

“It’s been temperamental,” Kimbrough said. “The humidity (was) causing the ballots to stick together. The machine was not grabbing one at a time.”

The difficulties delayed results in two contested legislative races and final totals for statewide races, including those for seats in the U.S. House and Senate. In the legislative races, incumbent Reps. Eric Anderson and George Eskridge beat Democratic challengers.

Kootenai County Clerk Dan English said the more-than-80-percent turnout in Kootenai County is a record, but the final percentage won’t be known for a week or so. That’s because the number of people who registered at the polls Tuesday hasn’t been determined and added to the total number of registered voters. A total of 63,034 people cast ballots, and English said the longest he heard of voters waiting was half an hour.

“It went about as good as it can go,” English said. “With a record number of ballots to count, it really did run like clockwork.”