Jason Cook tops primary vote totals

YATES COUNTY--Jason Cook emerged as the front-runner in the race for Yates County judge after the primary election held Tuesday, Sept. 13. Cook won the Republican primary -- which had the largest turnout on election day -- by a wide margin, taking 1,203 votes (57.5 percent). Valerie Gardner had 456 votes (21.8 percent), while Matthew Conlon took 431 votes (20.6 percent). There were also two write-in votes. This was the only primary party election with all three candidates on the ticket.
Meanwhile, in the two-candidate primary races, Conlon won the Democratic primary with 325 votes to Gardner's 213. There were 56 unspecified write-in votes as well. For the Conservative Party primary, Cook led with 22 votes, while Conlon had 11 votes. There were also 14 write-ins.
Gardner won the Working Families primary with three votes over Conlon's two, with one write-in vote. Cook beat Gardner three votes to one in the Women's Equality primary. Cook also beat Gardner 10 votes to three in the Reform Party election.
In total votes across all parties, Cook led with 1,238 total votes, while Conlon followed with 769 and Gardner with 676.