by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — Ed Trimmer, a Democrat for the 79th District, officially won the state representative race after the Sumner County Board of Canvassers, i.e. county commissioners, counted the provisional ballots this morning at the courthouse.

Trimmer, who was locked in a tough battle with Larry Alley, a Republican, had not secured victory until the Sumner County provisional ballots were counted this morning. Only 23 provisional ballots were counted in the 79th District in Sumner County. Alley would get 13 to Trimmer’s 10. That wasn’t enough to offset Trimmer’s 72 vote lead he received after the provisional ballots were counted in Cowley County on Monday.

Trimmer, the incumbent, was in a heated race with Alley and had an 18 vote lead going into the provisional ballot count this week. Provisional ballots are one’s in which a vote comes into questions in regards to a given voter’s eligibility. This can be due to a number of factors such as not having proper identification, moving from one precinct to the other, poll worker error, machine error, etc.

Trimmer officially won the election with 4,237 votes to Alley’s 4,164. But Alley won Sumner County 1,349 to 880.

Trimmer, much like outgoing state representative Vince Wetta, was affected by the new legislative boundaries which gave him five new eastern Sumner County townships including Gore, Palestine, Oxford, Belle Plaine and Harmon.

Sumner County had 279 provisional ballots after the Nov. 6 election, but several of those were thrown out for various reasons, according to Sumner County Clerk Debra Norris.

Trimmer, of Winfield, has been serving in the house since 2005.