With 19,555 ballots cast in La Plata County, Sean Smith is ahead of Sheriff Duke Schirard with 10,478 votes, or 55.32 percent of votes cast. Schirard has 8,464 votes.
Other preliminary frontrunners are Allison Morrissey ahead of Bobby Lieb for county treasurer, Janis Smith ahead of Beverly Begay for county coroner, and Brad Black closely edging Cynthia Roebuck for county commissioner, with 50.76 percent of the vote and Cynthia Roebuck with 49.24 percent.
Mike McLachlan is ahead of J. Paul Brown among county voters for state representative. In statewide voting, McLachlan is edging out Brown with 51.83 percent of the votes, but only with one county of six reporting results.
In statewide races, La Plata County so far has gone primarily blue, favoring Sen. Mark Udall over Cory Garder with 9,929 votes over Gardner's 8,726. Gov. John Hickenlooper has 52.81 percent of the vote over Republican Bob Beauprez.
U.S. Rep Scott Tipton so far has 53 percent of the La Plata county vote against Democratic challenger Abel Tapia.
There are 42,693 voters registered in the county, so the current voter turnout is 45.8 percent.
The first round of La Plata County ballots were released a little before 8 p.m. Ballots turned in by Tuesday's 7 p.m. deadline are currently being tabulated.
