After what seemed like one of the longest campaign cycles in history, Election Day finally arrived Tuedsay in America. The first (and biggest) batch of results was released at 8:20 p.m.; the next batch came in at 9:30 p.m. and the final results rolled in at 9:50 p.m.
11:34 p.m. Archuleta County election results (unofficial)
Presidential: Hillary Clinton with 2,489 votes, Donald Trump with 4,234 votes.
U.S. Senator: Michael Bennet with 2,738 votes, Darryl Glenn with 4048 votes.
U.S. House: Scott Tipton with 4,196 votes, Gail Schwartz with 2,511 votes.
State Rep. House 59: Barbara McLachlan with 2,546, J. Paul Brown with 4,403 votes.
Archuleta County Commissioner District 1: Rodney B. Proffitt with 1,551 votes, Steve Wadley with 3,442 votes, and Morgan Murri with 2,107 votes.
Archuleta County Commissioner District 2: Raymond P. Finney with 1,492 votes, Ronnie Maez with 4,046 votes, and Natalie Carpenter with 1,646 votes.
Bayfield School District tax increase: 11 “yes,” 10 “no”
Upper San Juan Health Service District (Ballot Issue 4A): 3,314 “yes” and 3,231 “no.”
11:20 p.m. Barbara McLachlan takes win for hotly contested state House 59
"I'm very excited,” she said late Tuesday. “I couldn't have done it without a whole bunch of support. It took a village for this one, so I'm happy."
J. Paul Brown conceded about 11 p.m., she said.
"He very, very, very nicely congratulated me,” she said. “I told him we could work together on things. He ran a good race."
She was celebrating at the Powerhouse Science Center with fellow Democrats.
"This is always a purple district,” McLachlan said. “We have to really fight. It's a lot of work to win in this district. It's a lot of work even if you lose in this district. Either side, it's not a cakewalk."
11:15 p.m. Tipton has big lead over Schwartz, but many votes to be counted
U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton (R-Cortez) is leading with 55 percent of the vote to Democrat Gail Schwartz's 40 percent.
11:07 p.m. J. Paul Brown concedes race to Barbara McLachlan
Latest vote total: McLachlan 53.22 percent, Brown 46.78 percent.
10:55 p.m. Voter turnout reaches 83.9 percent in La Plata County
La Plata County Clerk & Recorder Tiffany Lee Parker said 83.9 percent of registered voters cast ballots. That's 31,561 ballots. It's possible that total will reach 84 percent after counting 302 ballots that had signature issues, eight provisional ballots and any remaining ballots from military residents serving overseas.
10:20 p.m. Final results are in for La Plata County
Hillary Clinton with 49.80 percent to Donald Trump's 40.59 percent.
Michael Bennet with 51.92 percent to Darryl Glenn's 41.51 percent.
Barbara Hall McLachlan with 53.83 percent to J. Paul Brown's 46.17 percent.
Gwen Lachelt with 50.98 percent to Lyle McKnight's 49.02 percent.
Julie Westendorff with 53.69 percent to Kayla Patterson's 46.31 percent.
La Plata County Road and Bridge tax goes down with 47.72 percent “yes” to 52.28 percent “no.”
Durango-La Plata County Airport bonding issues goes down with 38.31 percent “no” to 61.69 percent “yes.”
Durango School District 9-R tax increase passes with 62.62 percent “yes” to 37.38 percent “no.”
Bayfield School District tax increase passes with 51.58 percent “yes” to 48.42 percent “no.”
9:45 p.m. New batch of election results for La Plata County; one more to come
The last batch of election results are expected at 9:55 p.m.
Bayfield School District tax increase: Yes 50.47%, No 49.53%
La Plata County Road and Bridges: Yes 48.23%, No 51.77%
Presidential Electors: Hillary Clinton 50.27%, Donald Trump 41.07%
U.S. Senator: Michael Bennet (DEM) with 52.23%, Darryl Glenn (REP) with 41.81%
House of Representatives: Scott R. Tipton (REP) with 45.43%, Gail Schwartz (DEM) with 51.03%
State Representative - District 59: Barbara Hall McLachlan (DEM) with 53.68%, J. Paul Brown (REP) with 46.32%
La Plata County Commissioner District 2: Gwen Lachelt (DEM) with 51.13%, Lyle McKnight (REP) with 48.87%
La Plata County Commissioner District 3: Julie Holligan Westendorff (DEM) with 53.70%, Kayla Patterson (REP) with 46.30%
9:35 p.m. Gap widens in road and bridge tax question
With new election results, the La Plata County Road and Bridge tax increase appears headed for defeat.
Yes: 48.23%
No: 51.77%
9:30 p.m. La Plata County Road and Bridge tax question within 2 percentage points
With 83 percent of the ballots counted, the road and bridge tax question appeared headed for defeat.
Yes: 49.01%
No: 50.99%
9:20 p.m. Airport bond goes down in flames
Yes: 37.27%
No: 62.73%
9:10 p.m. Bayfield School District tax increase is too close to call
Yes: 49.81%
No: 50.19%
9:07 p.m. Voters approve tax increase for Durango School District 9-R
Yes: 61 percent
No: 39 percent
8:40 p.m. Eighty-three percent of La Plata County Election results are in, more to come within an hour
La Plata County election results, with 83 percent of votes counted, have Clinton, Bennet, Schwartz, McLachlan, Lachelt and Westendorff ahead. More results expected within the hour.
8:22 p.m. First batch of results are in for La Plata County
Hillary Clinton 51.09 percent of the vote, Donald Trump with 40.78 percent of the vote
United States Senator: Michael Bennet (DEM) 52.92% and Darryl Glenn (REP) 41.83%
House District 3: Gail Schwartz (DEM) 51.56% and Scott R. Tipton (REP) 45.31%
State Representative - District 59: Barbara Hall McLachlan (DEM) 54.12% and J. Paul Brown (REP) 45.88%
La Plata County Commissioner District 2: Gwen Lachelt (DEM) 51.56% and Lyle McKnight (REP) 48.44%
La Plata County Commissioner District 3: Julie Holligan Westendorff (DEM) 54.31% and Kayla Patterson (REP) 45.69%
8:05 p.m. Dolores County gives it to Trump, Tipton and Glenn
Dolores County votes are fully in: Hillary Clinton with 18.46 percent of vote, Donald Trump with 76.1 percent of the vote.
In other races: Scott R. Tipton with 64.5 percent of the vote, Gail Schwartz with 30.83 percent of the vote; Darryl Glenn with 67.54 percent of the vote, Michael Bennet with 27.9 percent of the vote.
7:55 p.m. Unaffiliated voters may get voice in primary elections
In early results, both primary measures in Colorado are passing, which allow unaffiliated voters to weigh in on the presidential election and other candidates in primary elections. Colorado voters also showed early support for the aid-in-dying measure.
Prop 108 – to allow unaffiliated to vote in state primaries – is 52 percent yes, 48 percent no.
7:35 p.m. La Plata County voters have cast ballots, no long lines
La Plata County Clerk & Recorder Tiffany Lee Parker is reporting no long lines after 7 p.m.; residents who were waiting to vote have cast ballots.
7:30 p.m. Scott Tipton takes early lead with three counties reporting
With three counties reporting, U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton has 66 percent of the vote to Gail Schwartz's 28 percent. Pueblo hasn't reported anything yet.
7:15 p.m. First Colorado results trickle in, with Trump taking early lead
First batch of results: Trump, 52 percent; Clinton, 39 percent. These include more than 500,000 votes, from GOP stronghold counties. We have a long ways to go.
6:58 p.m. Polls to close at 7 p.m., despite Dems efforts to extend hours
BREAKING: Colorado Democrats filed an injunction to keep polls open until 9 p.m. after a 29 minute statewide voter system outage, but that effort was shot down in a Denver District Court.
6:35 p.m. Eighty three percent of active voters have cast ballots in La Plata County
With 30 minutes until polls close, La Plata County Clerk and Recorder Tiffany Lee Parker said 83 percent of active voters had returned ballots. That's 28,830 ballots.
Inactive voters include those registered to vote in La Plata County but had an undeliverable address.
6:30 p.m. Voter system outage lasts only 15 minutes in La Plata County
A voter system outage lasted about 15 minutes in La Plata County, said Clerk and Recorder Tiffany Lee Parker.
Two voters received provisional ballots during the outage, while a few others left their phone numbers so election officials could call them when the system came back online, Parker said.
“It was definitely not something I wanted to see, but at least it was only 15 minutes,” she said.
6:05 p.m. Democrats seek to extend voting hours to 9 p.m.
Colorado Democrats filed an injunction in Denver District Court to keep polls open until 9 p.m. to make up for a rolling outage that lasted 29 minutes Tuesday afternoon in counties across the state.
5:20 p.m. Voter turnout in past presidential elections in La Plata County
Will more residents vote during this presidential election than in past presidential elections? We'll see.
Here's voter turnout numbers for the past six presidential elections:
70.9 percent in 2012
75.5 percent in 2008
70.9 percent in 2004
60.2 percent in 2000
63.7 percent in 1996
84 percent in 1992
5:05 p.m. More than 65 percent of voters return ballots
La Plata County was reporting a 65 percent voter turnout as of 2 p.m. today. Registered voters to return ballots included 10,147 Democrats, 9,391 Republicans, 8,507 unaffiliated voters, 340 Libertarians, 151 Green Party voters, 68 American Constitution Party, 7 Unis, for a total of 28,611 ballots.
5 p.m. Brief outage with state voter registration system
The state of Colorado experienced a 29-minute outage with its voter-registration system, from 2:47 to 3:16 p.m.
Colorado Secretary of State spokeswoman Lynn Bartels said the elections office is investigating the cause of the outage, but no voters were denied a chance to vote. Voters who arrived at polling places during the outage were given provisional ballots, she said.
2:30 p.m. Above-average temperatures this Election Day
Durango-area residents were treated to clear-blue skies and above-average temperatures this Election Day. 3:28 p.m., the high at the Durango-La Plata County Airport hit 61 degrees, according to a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction.
“We're running a couple of degrees above average and we probably will throughout the week,” the forecaster said.
A look at high temperatures during past Election Days in Durango:
Nov. 6, 2012, 62 degrees (Obama)
Nov. 4, 2008, 56 degrees (Obama)
Nov. 2, 2004, 48 degrees (Bush)
Nov. 7, 2000, 41 degrees (Bush, with some help from the U.S. Supreme Court)
Nov. 5, 1996, N/A (Bill Clinton)
Nov. 3, 1992, 43 degrees (Bill Clinton)
Nov. 7, 1988, 61 degrees (George H.W. Bush)
Nov. 6, 1984, 50 degrees (Reagan)
Nov. 4, 1980, 69 degrees (Reagan)
12:30 p.m. – County commission candidate relieved at final stretch
La Plata County Commissioner Julie Westendorff, who is seeking re-election, said she planned to hold a campaign sign at the Albertsons/DoubleTree intersection this afternoon before going to the Powerhouse Science Center to watch the results come in this evening.
She reminded residents it's not too late to vote, even if they're still not registered to do so.
She felt like the weight of the campaign season had been lifted a bit on Tuesday.
“Election Day for me is less anxiety-riddled than three weeks ago,” she said Tuesday during a visit to The Durango Herald offices.
