Well, it’s official. I am no longer an official candidate for city council in Payson Utah. I had hoped that this would go further, but the recount did not change the results. It is disheartening in a way to lose by such a slim margin and feel that you had so much to offer. In other ways, it is a relief. It would have been an additional time commitment had I won the big banana, and suddenly my evenings between now and the election on November 6 have become open again. I would have reported this all earlier except for two things.
1-This site has been down.
2-I considered a write in campaign for a little while, but without your name on the official ballot that would have been an almost impossible task and I don’t have the time nor the organization to get that done.
Lots of people have been asking me about the election. I am surprised and grateful for the number of people that supported me and maybe I will run again in two years. For now, I will throw my support behind a couple of other candidates. It has been an interesting experience, but as one person said to me on Wednesday, your burgeoning political career is over for now.
Well, the story goes on. Last night they found that with the provisional votes included, that where I had been ahead, I was now behind. The catch is that since I am only behind 4 votes, that is less than 1% of the vote, less than 1 vote per precinct, that means there will be a recount.
Today they began the recount at 2:00pm. Of course, since they had to do the recount, they also now have to do the canvas of the recount of the count of the election. In the meantime, I can’t take down or keep up signs simply because I don’t know for sure what is going to happen. Talk about a continual civics lesson. I have run into enough people who would have voted for me, had they voted, that I could have won this election. I am very frustrated by the 10% turnout and particularly by the lack of interest in the electoral process. The direction this city is going to take could be decided by less than one vote per precinct. Well, it has been interesting.
OK gang,
The results are in. My opponent picked up 12 votes in the provisional ballots, I picked up 5, net difference he picked up 7 votes on me. Given that I was 3 votes ahead before tonight, the net affect is that he is up by 4 votes. State statue allows me to request a recount for anything less than a 7 vote difference, so I have requested a recount. While it doesn’t look good for me, even if I lose it has been a great experience, and given the support that I have been receiving in town this week, I may decide to run again in two or four years. We shall see. I will let you know when the final tally is reached, which may be as early as tomorrow night.
One thing I have learned, though I knew it intellectually before. The value of one vote cast is very important, and those that were not cast are heart breaking for those who would have benefited by their vote. I have also talked to individuals who would have voted for me, but because they didn’t register to vote, or they were too “busy”, did not vote. I am beginning to feel passionately about that too.
Following is a newspaper article that was in the Daily Herald. I am including it here.
County finalizes election results PDF | Print | E-mail
JANICE PETERSON - Daily Herald
Election workers across Utah County spent Tuesday evening sorting and counting thousands of votes for city council and mayoral candidates. After burning the midnight oil, the election results were finally made public.
In some races, such as the Provo citywide council seat, the margin of victory was more than a thousand votes. But in a handful of cases, fewer than 50 votes separate winner from loser. After absentee, mail in and provisional votes are counted before each city’s canvass, the results of some close races may change.
“I don’t want to be a sore loser,” said Payson candidate Steve Hanson, “but I’m not ready to throw in the towel.”
Hanson trailed fellow Payson City Council candidate Mike Hardy by only three votes after Tuesday’s primaries.
In Draper, Nick Ramond and Paul Tonks thought they knew their place in the council race, with Ramond ahead by 29 votes. However, after Utah County votes were added to Salt Lake County’s, Tonks was ahead by 50.
While the victory was a pleasant surprise for Tonks, Ramond said the outcome did not come as a shock to him.
“I was actually down the whole time,” he said. “Draper city spans two counties. I was never really ahead.”
The Utah County votes were actually posted first, Ramond said, so the total Wednesday morning was no different from Tuesday night.
While Tonks managed to jump ahead by Wednesday, the ride may not be over for these primary candidates and others who are neck and neck.
Provisional ballots are a product of the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002, so they’re relatively new in the world of close city elections.
Sandy Hoffmann, the Utah County elections coordinator, said a voter would be allowed to cast a provisional ballot if they did not have an ID, if the voter was not on the official register of the precinct, or if an official challenged the eligibility of a voter.
After an election, each provisional vote is verified.
“If it was me, I would call the person who cast the vote and ask them to bring in an ID,” Hoffmann said. “My motto is to err on the side of the voter.”
Hoffmann said she has been through nine elections and has not yet seen provisional ballots play a major role.
“I’ve never had a race where we had to recount or where provisional ballots made a candidate,” Hoffmann said. However, that may change this year.
Payson’s race will almost certainly be decided by the provisional ballots that have yet to be counted, and many other contests remain in question as well.
In Utah County, provisional ballots may play a factor in a number of city council contests. Only 38 votes separate Jens P. Nielson and Alex Stone in Spanish Fork, but 99 provisional votes have yet to be counted.
In all, eight races have a gap of fewer than 50 votes. Draper, Eagle Mountain, Elk Ridge, Highland, Payson, Spanish Fork and Springville all had narrow victories for the candidates.
Provo’s fourth district has a gap of only 16 that may be affected by additional votes.
Some of these areas do not have enough provisional votes to matter. In Payson’s race, these votes can change several positions.
Of the six candidates who will move on to the general elections, the leader has just 96 more votes than Hanson.
Hoffmann said she received more than 30 pages of provisional ballots from Payson, and it is up to the city to verify whether each ballot meets the criteria to be counted.
Despite the number of extra votes, many of them already do not qualify.
“There was quite a stack that did not count,” she said.
Hanson remains a contender in the close race for three city council seats. By the time all the votes are counted, he could be right back in the thick of it. Though Hanson said he respects the people’s choice if he loses, he remains confident in his chances.
“I’m not taking down signs just yet,” Hanson said. “With a three vote differential, it’s hard to say [who will win].”
Hardy said he thinks he has about as good a chance to stay ahead as he is to fall behind, but he is anxious to hopefully move on to the general election after all the votes have been counted.
“With only three votes, anybody would be worried,” he said. “It depends on how many absentee and provisional ballots there are.”
This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page C1.
Well, yesterday was the primary election for City Council. There were 8 running for 6 spots in the general election. Until the two last precincts reported I was 7 of the 8 candidates. With the last two reporting, I moved up to number 5, but only by 3 votes. Oh, the agony of it all. It won’t be official until after the official canvas is conducted, which will be on Monday. At that time, there will be adding in absentee ballots and any provisional ballots that are allowed, and I could lose my miniscule lead. However, at least for a few days, I am still a candidate. We shall see how this is all going to do.
Well, maybe not to the finish. Tomorrow is the “Primary” election. I have taken a couple of days off of work so I can go out and “campaign”, such as it is. Tomorrow, I will finally know whether I have two more months of agony to live through, or whether I can take down my campaign signs, go home, and lick my wounds. Regardless, I will get an indication. This running for public office has been a unique experience so far. Putting oneself out in the public eye, under the gaze of my fellow citizens, has been illuminating. Whether or not it has been enjoyable is not the question. In any event, tomorrow is the day.
Well, this was a new experience to never have been done before. Yesterday, Labor Day, I walked in the Official Onion Days Parade of the City of Payson, as a candidate for City Council. That was really strange, to walk along in a parade entry that was focusing on me, as a candidate for City Council. I have never been the focus of anything in public like this before. It was so strange to be walking and waving my hands to the crowd, urging them to vote, and to vote for me.
This is not easy for me to do, but I can see how it could feed your ego if you were that type of a person. For me, I wondered if they were making fun of me, and if despite all of these efforts, I shall finish last. At least I wasn’t by myself. My wonderful wife walked with me, waving to the crowd, and passing out pamphlets. She is a true gem.
