In the most closely watched of the courthouse races in Carroll County, incumbent Sheriff Kenneth L. Tregoning defeated former Deputy Charles C. "Chuck" Paulsen Jr. last night.
Tregoning won by a margin of more than 2-to-1, drawing nearly 23,000 more votes than Paulsen.
Meanwhile, Republican Jerry F. Barnes, 54, two-term incumbent state's attorney for Carroll, won by nearly 30,000 votes over Democratic challenger Richard S. Nacewicz, 70, an Eldersburg lawyer and community activist.
Incumbents also won by substantial margins in the races for clerk of the Circuit Court and for the three seats on the Orphans' Court, which oversees settlement of estates.
Tregoning said the record he has compiled in four years as sheriff helped him fend off his challenger.
"We're very appreciative that voters, through their votes, indicated satisfaction with what we've been trying to do to enhance public safety for all citizens.
"I look forward to serving them for the next four years," said Tregoning, 58, a retired 31-year state police veteran.
Paulsen, 43, resigned last year after 12 years in the sheriff's office and now works in the county Office of Risk Management as a training coordinator.
At the polls yesterday at Northwest Middle School in Taneytown, Ken Shoemaker, a 38-year-old bus driver who is a Republican, said he was supporting Tregoning.
"Tregoning has done an incredible job," he said.
Republican Larry W. Shipley, 57, the county clerk of court since 1978, won by a better than 3-to-1 margin over Democrat James L. McCarron Jr., 55, Taneytown's vice mayor.
The register of wills race was the first in more than 30 years without an incumbent in the post.
Republican Paul G. Zimmerman, 49, a Westminster lawyer who is an assistant county attorney in Frederick, won by about 24,000 votes over Democrat John Lockard Barnes, 75, of Millers, a retired accountant for the U.S. Treasury.
Republican Orphans' Court Judges Dorothy V. "Dottie" Utz, 75, of Westminster; Herbert J. Reisig Sr., 66, of Finksburg; and John David Carbaugh, 69, a retired publicist and part-time real estate agent, easily defeated the lone Democratic candidate, George E. Maloney, 70, of New Windsor, chairman of the board of New Windsor Citizens Action Project.
Sun staff writer Athima Chansanchai and intern Emily Benson contributed to this article.