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<b>Williams voters turned out in force for general election</b>

(EDITOR'S NOTE; For a complete rundown of how Coconino County votes stacked up for candidates and propositions in last week's general election, see pages 1B and 4B in the Grand Canyon section of this week's edition of the paper. All results were still unofficial prior to presstime.)

Although national officials were still debating about the outcome of the presidential election as of presstime, it was clear how Williams residents voted on the matter.

Locally, George W. Bush won hands down.

A total of 667 people (64 percent of those registered) voted at the north side precinct. Of these, 415 (64 percent) voted for Bush, 199 (30.7 percent) voted for Al Gore.

On the south side of town, 540 voted (58.6 percent of the 922 people registered. Bush got the nod from 311 voters (60.2 percent), with 187 for Gore (36.2 percent).

Republican Sen. John Kyl was a big Williams winner. He nabbed 506 votes (82 percent) on the north side; 413 votes (83.9 percent) on the south side.

District 3 Congressional Rep. Bob Stump garnered 456 votes north side (71.4 percent); 360 votes (71.3 percent) south side.

Rep. John Verkamp moved up to the state senate in District 2. In Williams, he netted 420 votes north side (65.5 percent); 320 votes south side (62.5 percent).

The two winners in the District 2 state house race were Dem. James "Jim" Sedillo and Rep. Tom O'Halleran. Sedillo logged 204 votes north side (19.8 percent); 219 south side (26.5 percent). O'Halleran nailed 32.2 votes north side (19.8 percent); 226 votes south side (27.4 percent).

Moving to the Coconino County races, incumbent Matt Ryan retained his District 3 supervisor seat but only took the north side precinct here — 322 (50.5 percent). His opponent, former Williams Mayor Jim Hoffman, took the south side with 286 votes (54.9 percent).

There were no surprises in the county sheriff's race. Voters elected Dem. Joe Richards to his eighth term. Williams voters fell in line — 392 on the north side (62.3 percent); 362 on the south side (70.2 percent).

Dem. Bonny Kraske won the county treasurer slot with no help from Williams voters. The north side gave her opponent, Rep. Barbara Dodd 378 votes (62.4); south side 291 (60.5 percent).

Neither did Dem. Cecelia Owen, the newly elected county superintendent of school, fare well in town. The north side cast 347 votes (57.5 percent) for Rep. Sara Hartzler Casciani; the south side cast 246 (50.5) for Hartzler Casciani.

The candidates for county attorney, assessor and recorder ran unopposed.

Of all the propositions on the ballot, possibly the most controversial was 400, which related to the proposed zoning change giving the Canyon Forest Village development a greenlight to proceed. A total of 21,872 county voters said no (63.8 percent) with 12,390 voting yes (36.2) percent. In Williams, the statistic were even more dramatic — north side 473 no (73.8 percent); south side 414 no (81.3 percent).

The editorial team at the Williams-Grand Canyon News had a hard time projecting how this very complex issue would go. It was the only proposition on the ballot on which we kept a neutral stance. We did, however, urge voters to follow their conscience on Prop. 400. Certainly, the county residents' stance was clearly proclaimed in the ballot box.


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