On Dec. 5, many across Idaho made their voices heard at runoff elections in Mountain Home and Eagle and a special election in Jerome.
The first of two Mayoral runoff elections was in Eagle, where November election frontrunners incumbent Jason Pierce and his opponent Brad Pike both received less than 50% of the vote, prompting the runoff.
Voters in Eagle made their voices heard and selected Brad Pike to be the new mayor of the city after he received 55.2% of the vote to Pierce’s 44.8%.
In Mountain Home voters sided with incumbent mayor Rich Sykes, who received 58.2% of the vote, over challenger Misty Pierce, who received 41.8%.
In Jerome County, a judge had voided the results in the 7th Valley School District Trustee Zone 4 elections after discovering an error in the balloting. Officials learned that two voters in the same house were incorrectly issued an absentee ballot for Valley School District Zone 5 when they reside in Zone 4.
The November results for the Zone 4 Trustee position showed candidates Michael Lakey receiving 48 votes and Matthew Kimmel receiving 47 votes. Due to the one-vote difference in the race, it was decided that to ensure a fair and accurate outcome, a special election was necessary for the voters in Zone 4.
The special election saw the results flip, with Matthew Kimmel winning the race with 25 votes, just 3 votes over Michael Lakey.
