[T]here were few surprises in Rutland County’s legislative races, many of them uncontested.
A closely watched Senate contest ended in a comfortable margin of victory for the three Republican incumbents — Peg Flory, Kevin Mullin and Brian Collamore.
Collamore, who finished third, was nearly 3,000 votes ahead of his closest rival, Democrat Cheryl Hooker. Democrat Korrine Rodrigue, a public health researcher who had a well-organized campaign and raised more than $24,000, finished fifth.
In Rutland City, Democrat Mary Howard defeated John Mattison by 213 votes for an open House seat vacated by Herb Russell. Russell was the lone Democrat representing Rutland City in the House and retired earlier this year.
The three other House seats from Rutland City were uncontested.
A five-way race for two House seats representing Rutland-2, which includes the towns of Clarendon,Proctor, Tinmouth, Wallingford and West Rutland, ended in victory for incumbents Dave Potter, a Democrat, and Tom Burditt, a Republican. Republican Ronald “Bushey” Boucher finished third.
In Rutland-Bennington, which includes the towns of Rupert, Middletown Springs, Pawlet, Tinmouth and Wells, incumbent Rep. Robin Chesnut-Tangerman, a Progressive, and Jonas Rosenthal, a Republican, were locked in a close race with five of six of the voting districts reporting.
The presidential race seems to have driven people to the polls, not turned them away as some down ballot candidates in Rutland County feared.
Carol Fjeld, a speech pathologist in Brandon, was at the polls early Tuesday morning to cast her vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton for president.
She said Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump had “opened up a Pandora’s box of hate” that couldn’t be closed again. But Fjeld split the ticket in the governor’s and lieutenant governor’s races, voting for Democrat Sue Minter for governor and Republican Randy Brock for lieutenant governor.
Having both parties represented at the highest levels of state government was a sign of strength, she said.
Larry Sears, voting in Rutland City’s Ward-4, said he was most concerned about the U.S. Supreme Court.
“If that goes to a liberal,” he said, “we’re in trouble.” Sears said he didn’t like Trump’s tactics, but that he’d be voting for him.
Marty Fleming, who voted for Republican Bruce Lisman in the August Republican primary for governor, said she was casting her vote for Trump for president and Republican Phil Scott for governor. Fleming said she’d wanted to shake things up in August but that she was comfortable voting for Scott.
Katelyn Atwood said she always voted, but that the especially close gubernatorial race had motivated her to come to the polls and vote for Minter.
Sherlyn Anderson, who came to Vermont from Nicaragua seven years ago, was voting for the first time. She became a U.S. citizen in July. Anderson, who noted that Nicaragua held elections Monday, said she was inspired by Bernie Sanders’ Democratic presidential primary bid and had voted for Clinton.
Drew Hersom, a 19-year-old Castleton University student from southern Maine, was also voting in his first presidential election. Standing outside the Castleton fire station, he said it was a “high stakes election” and that he was voting his conscience. Hersom cast his vote for libertarian candidate Gary Johnson.
Early voting and Election Day turnout was strong across the board, according to town clerks and election officials around the county. In Rutland City, Ward-4 election official Steve Reynolds said they probably had three to four times the usual number of absentee ballots.
In Wallingford, the town clerk said she’d spent three hours scanning absentee ballots Tuesday morning and that they were still receiving ballots into the afternoon.
Brandon Town Clerk Sue Gage said they’d received about 560 absentee ballots, or 20 percent of eligible voters. She said that number far exceeded past elections.
There were long lines at some polling stations.
According to an election official at Ward-1 in Rutland City, there were more than 125 people lined up when the polls opened at 7 a.m. Polling places in Pittsford, Castleton, Mendon, Rutland City, and Fair Haven all reported steady turnout.