With all precincts reporting, Brandi Baily has 51% of Sedgwick County treasurer votes

UPDATED, 11:27 p.m.: With all 267 precincts reporting, Baily has almost 51% of the vote to Sauceda’s 49%.

“I’m ecstatic, I’m overwhelmed,” Baily said. “The support people have shown me, it came through tonight.”

Although the race is close, Sauceda said the approximately 800 votes he’s down by mean he probably has lost. He said he called to congratulate Baily but got her voicemail.

Sauceda said the race is about keeping the county seats red.

“It’s not about me. It hasn’t ever been about me.”

Baily had a lot of emotion in her voice when discussing the election, which she calls her first major one and a particularly challenging one given that it happened in a pandemic.

“I can’t stop,” she said. “We’ve got a Democrat coming up.”

Results of the race are not final until the canvass, which is tentatively scheduled for Aug. 14, and provisional ballots are either counted or disqualified. Provisional ballots are those cast by voters whose eligibility is in doubt. The final tally also will include ballots that are mailed on the day of the election.

Sauceda said Baily “is fully capable.”

“I wish her the best.”

UPDATED, 9:45 p.m.: With 99 of 267 precincts reporting, Baily continues to lead with almost 53% of the vote to Sauceda’s more than 47%. However, much like what the candidates have in common — which is much — the votes are pretty similar as well.

Original story:

Two candidates with a lot in common are vying for the Republican nomination for the Sedgwick County Treasurer’s office.

Brandi Baily, 43, and Ben Sauceda, 37, both work for Sedgwick County — she’s the principal accountant for the finance department, and he’s the current deputy treasurer — and serve on the City Council for Park City. They also live about eight houses from each other, have birthdays 10 days apart and have phone numbers separated by one digit. Although Baily added, “He likes the Cubs, I like the Royals.”

They’re also not too far off in early returns. Of advance voting tallied so far, Baily is leading Sauceda almost 57% to just over 43%.

The winner of the primary will face Democrat Charity Kennedy in November. The current county treasurer, Linda Kizzire, is not seeking re-election.

The treasurer’s office operates the county’s two vehicle tag offices. It also collects real estate, personal property and other taxes and distributes the money to cities, townships and other taxing authorities. The office has the equivalent of 93 full-time employees. The treasurer is elected to a four-year term and is paid $92,658.

In their current and past positions, both Baily and Sauceda said they have had extensive experience managing finances and working with others.

Both also said they want to make improvements at the office.

Baily said she wants to seek “opportunities to decrease wait times by expanding tag office hours and set up satellite locations in some of the smaller communities.”

Sauceda said he “would work with our legislators to encourage changes in our state statutes that would allow for more efficient government in the 21st century. There are many ways our hands are tied because of this situation with state statutes that are not cost effective and burdensome to being efficient.”

Check back for election results throughout the evening.

This story was originally published August 4, 2020 at 8:52 PM.