YOUR AD HERE »

Hatfield, Owsley and Newman win in Pitkin County

Scott Condon
The Aspen Times
Aspen, CO Colorado

PITKIN COUNTY ” Incumbent Pitkin County commissioners Jack Hatfield and Michael Owsley cruised to victories in re-election bids Tuesday and George Newman topped Dee Malone for an open seat on the board.

Owsley defeated Shellie Roy in a rematch of their race four years ago, gathering 5,138 votes to 3,401 for Roy.

Hatfield collected 5,617 votes to earn his third term as commissioner. Challenger Bruce Anderson received 2,587 votes.



In the District 5 seat being vacated by Dorothea Farris, Newman won with 4,116 compared to 3,166 for Dee Malone.

Owsley said his performance over the last four years earned him another term with voters.




“I think they trusted me,” he said. “I’ve been even handed and it conflicted with Shellie’s portrayal of me. My core issue was that Shellie was making outrageous claims and they had to be challenged.”

Hatfield said the election results reflect his experience, knowledge and “understanding of the people.” He said he has broad appeal as a county commissioner.

“I reach out and listen to a very diverse group of people,” Hatfield said.

Newman also credited his diverse background for helping him appeal to voters. He stressed in the campaign that he worked with diverse interests and had concern for the environment.

“I think I was able to get across that I did have a much broader community involvement,” he said.

The three winning county commissioner candidates didn’t learn their fate until about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday when the Pitkin County clerk’s office released the final unofficial results ” more than three hours after the presidential race was called. Clerk Janice Vos Caudill said her office was deluged with mail-in and absentee ballots that were delivered by procrastinators at 6 p.m. That late flood delayed the vote counting process. Election judges also faced problems counting ballots that had flaws, such as a tear or a crossed off selection, Caudill said.

Turnout was extremely high. There were 9,845 votes cast or about 88 percent of Pitkin County’s 11,121 active voters.

scondon@aspentimes.com