In front of a large crowd of interested individuals, the Seward County Clerks Office, along with the Seward County Commission , qualified and certified last Tuesdays election. Provisional Ballots were considered this morning. Before the Canvassing, In the 125th House District seat race, Reid Petty had held an 8 vote lead over incumbent Carl Holmes, and when the final votes were counted, Petty defeated the 27 year incumbent by 9 votes, 904-895. Holmes was first elected to the House in 1985, and gained

national prominence on energy policy questions as the longtime

chairman of the House Energy and Utilities Committee.Petty is on the USD 480 Board of Education and is chairman of the Republican Party in Seward County. No Democrat is running in the 125th House District general election.

Originally there were 68 Provisional Ballots to be considered, but that number dropped . Some were already disqualified before the canvassing due to individuals who had switched parties after the deadline or tried to vote without being registered.

In the other locally contested races, CJ Wettstein and Jim Rice both retained their seats over challengers Larry Phillips and Gary Andrews The election is now official and the results will be forwarded on to the Secretary of States office.