Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette First-time voters and new residents register to vote at the Houghton City Center Tuesday afternoon.

Editor’s note: This story is updated from the version that ran Wednesday morning on mininggazette.com.

HOUGHTON — Incumbents held on in the top Houghton County races, while three newcomers landed on the Houghton City Council.

In the sheriff’s race, incumbent Republican Brian McLean easily won re-election, garnering 76.3% of the vote with 12,261 votes. Coming in second was independent Joshua Saaranen (1,813), who endorsed McLean, followed by independent Roger Sullivan (1,165). Steve Laux filed as a write-in candidate; write-ins received 840 votes.

“I appreciated all the support from everybody,” he said. “It’s nice to see people come out. I look forward to the next four years, and hopefully things go well. It’s a tumultuous state of the nation. Fortunately we live in a great area, and we’re insulated from a lot of that. Hopefully, it stays that way.”

In the county clerk race, incumbent Democrat Jennifer Kelly (9,957) defeated Republican challenger Justin Kasieta (7,670). The race became perhaps the most contentious, after police reports indicated Kasieta had been listening in on an alleged threatening phone call made to Kelly earlier this year by Matthew Smith, a school board member in Davison downstate and a candidate for Genesee County Board. (Smith narrowly lost his county race, 13,728 to 13,153.)

Last week, Kelly was sued by clerk’s office employee Beverly Smith, who filed a defamation suit accusing Kelly of sending false allegations about her to numerous county officials and administrators.

“I’m happy beyond words,” Kelly said Wednesday, shortly after the final results came in. “I’m truly grateful to every single person that has helped me, supported me and believed in me. I’m a happy girl.”

All incumbent county commissioners won their races, including three who had contested races. In District 1, Republican Vice Chairman Tom Tikkanen (2,325) defeated Democratic challenger Amber Brodersen (1,155).

“I’m pleased with the results, and recognize that it’s a privilege to serve,” he said. “I’m honored that the majority of the voters put their trust in me to continue serving at the county level, and look forward to the next two years. we have a lot of challenges in our community, but an equal or greater number of opportunities, and I trust that it will be a productive time for Houghton County.”

In District 2, Republican Chairman Al Koskela (2,577) defeated Democratic challenger Mark Pavolich (1,612).

In the closest of the county races, Democratic incumbent Glenn Anderson (1,842) defeated Republican challenger Dan Holcomb (1,578) in District 3.

“One, I’m obviously very pleased, and I’m looking forward to providing my best input to the governing of Houghton County for the next two years,” he said. “I applaud my opponent, Dan Holcomb, who worked hard, campaigned hard, but he did it professionally, and I appreciate that. I did too. He was a strong competitor, and he did very well. I’m glad I won and I look forward to continuing my service on the county board.”

In Houghton, three challengers who have asked the city to seek more public input on the future of the big parking deck area on Lakeshore Drive were elected to the council. Joan Suits (1,215), Virginia Cole (1,000) and Brian Irizarry (777) defeated incumbents John Sullivan (742) and Philip Foltz (716).

“I’m looking forward to working with the city council to really make Houghton better,” Suits said. “My concern is always you get into this mentality that if you don’t agree with me, there’s something wrong with you. I’m hoping that won’t be the case … there’s going to be a pretty steep learning curve, but I think I can do it.”

Suits thought voters responded to the newcomers’ message of wanting to work with them.

“I don’t think the council had been doing anything wrong, but I think that they hadn’t been communicating,” she said. “That’s one thing new people can bring in, is a new approach to dealing with the public, so I’m looking forward to that.”

Irizarry said he was “elated” by his win.

“I could not have done it without the support of friends and some other supporters,” he said. “I couldn’t have done it alone, for sure.”

Irizarry said he hadn’t had anything against the incumbents’ performance on the council, but disagreed with them on some issues. The Lakeshore Drive issue had been foremost on voters’ minds. All three challengers were also aligned with the Democratic party, Irizarry said, which he thought helped them in Houghton.

“The clean sweep was quite strong, and I think we always did have a lot of momentum, and when we worked together and supported each other, I think that increased our chances of winning,” he said. “We really like each other, we get along really well.”

In a contested Hancock City Council race for Ward 3, Kurt Rickard (299) beat John Slivon (184). John Haeussler (672) was elected to a partial two-year term, beating Margo Pizzi (502), Robert Stites (307) and James De Clerck (272).

Houghton County voter turnout was 69.8%, up from 56.2% in 2016.