Learn BEFORE you vote. (Not an official website of American Fork City.)

Year: 2017 (Page 1 of 4)

Election Results – 2017 General Election

Note: These election results are updated as of Tuesday, November 21. These are the official results. The turnout is 40.34% in American Fork, which is excellent for an off-year election.

If you want to want to see the sources yourself, here are links to reports for the congressional race and the American Fork municipal races.


US House of Representatives, District 3

Not including three third-party (fourth-party?) and unaffiliated candidates who, combined, got 7.1% of the vote:

  • John Curtis (Republican)
    • Final (Nov 21): 85,739 votes or 58.0%
    • Nov 7: 62,498 votes or 57.6%
  • Kathie Allen (Democrat)
    • Final (Nov 21): 37,778 votes or 25.6%
    • Nov 7: 29,449 votes or 27.1%
  • Jim Bennett (United Utah)
    • Final (Nov 21): 13,745 votes or 9.3%
    • Nov 7: 9,641 votes or 8.9%

John Curtis is the winner.


American Fork Mayor

For a four-year term . . .

  • Brad Frost
    • Final (November 21): 3,935 votes or 77.0%
    • Nov 7: 2,885 votes or 77.7%
      • Corrected — I previously misreported the vote count, but not the percentage.
  • Carlton Bowen —
    • Final (Nov 21): 1,177 votes or 23.0%
    • Nov 7: 828 votes or 22.3%
Brad Frost

Brad Frost

Brad Frost wins. When his seat is vacated at the first of the year, the city council will choose someone to fill the rest of his term.


American Fork City Council

Two seats, two winners.

  • Barbara Christiansen
    • Final (Nov 21): 3,228 votes or 34.6%
    • Nov 7: 2,368 votes or 35.0%
  • Staci Carroll
    • Final (Nov 21): 2,661 votes or 28.5%
    • Nov 7: 1,898 votes or 28.0%
  • Kyle Barratt
    • Final (Nov 21): 1,905 votes or 20.4%
    • Nov 7: 1,409 votes or 20.8%
  • Jeffrey Shorter (incumbent)
    • Final (Nov 21): 1,532 votes or 16.4%
    • Nov 7: 1,094 votes or 16.2%
Staci Carroll

Staci Carroll

Barbara Christiansen and Staci Carroll win four-year terms on the city council.

Barbara Christiansen

Barbara Christiansen


Congratulations to all the winners, and thanks to all the candidates. This doesn’t work if good people don’t run.

Finally, thanks to all 2,819 of you who visited afelection.info during this election cycle.

David’s Handy Little (General) Election Guide, 2017

Here on my thoughts on the races on my November 2017 general election ballot.

US House of Representatives, Utah District 3

In the special election to fill the latter half of former Congressman Jason Chaffetz’s term, there are three candidates of note.

Provo Mayor John Curtis is a sterling example of conservative governance — and not the ideologically poisoned kind some seek. His Democrat opponent has tried to paint him as a Donald Trump sycophant, but he and President Trump aren’t even on the same planet, as far as I can tell. Curtis will win, and he’ll be a big step up from Congressman Chaffetz. Always replace a show horse with a workhorse, when you can. Continue reading

In Praise of Candidates (and Their Friends and Families)

Election Day is four days away, and many of us have already voted by mail. For the candidates, their families, close friends, and avid supporters, the end of a marathon looms — but in some ways it’s uphill to the finish line.

I’ve never been a candidate for political office, as candidates and officials sometimes remind me, when they don’t like what I write. But I’ve managed a few campaigns and staffed several others. I’ve advised numerous actual and potential candidates, and analyzed and commented on far too many issues and races (some would say). I’ve also lived with a candidate a couple of times — that is, I’ve lived with her for nearly 30 years, and she’s run for office a couple of times (and won).

So I have a lively appreciation for the look and feel of campaigns from the inside at this point in the election cycle — perhaps not for all candidates in all elections, but for many. Continue reading

American Fork Candidates Q&A – Part 6 – Resident Concerns, Hindsight, More

As before, I sent all the candidates the same questions. That was about two weeks ago. I’ve had two responses. If more arrive, I’ll happily post them.

In case you don’t already know, mayoral candidates Brad Frost and Carlton Bowen are on the November general election ballot in American Fork. Kyle BarrattBarbara Christiansen, Staci Carroll, and Jeffrey Shorter are running for two available city council seats.

Note: Responses may be slightly edited for grammar, punctuation, and format. Responses by candidates who were defeated in the primary are still available below, behind the buttons.

  • Published: 19 October 2017
  • Updated: (20 October 2017)

Continue reading

David’s Notes and Commentary: October 7 City Council Debate

Audio recordings of the October 7 city council debate in American Fork are available here, separated by question. The American Fork Chamber of Commerce also posted a single, long video recording of the event. This post is not intended to substitute for listening or watching, nor is it a play-by-play. I’ll tell you some of the things the candidates said and some of the things I think. So you are duly warned that this post contains more opinion than objective reportage.

I’ll link to a few audio segments and suggest that you listen to them. The full set is available at the link above.

Your comments are welcome, of course, and you certainly don’t have to agree with me.

The four candidates for city council on my ballot — it arrived today, and I checked — are Barbara Christiansen, incumbent Jeff Shorter, Kyle Barratt, and Staci Carroll. (I list them in the order in which they were seated at the event, alphabetically by first name. And I’ll use their first names here, to simplify your connections between these notes and the recordings.) Continue reading

American Fork City Council Debate Audio – October 7, 2017

Here is audio from the October 7, 2017, city council debate in American Fork. The mayoral candidates were not present but sent short statements to be read; they are included below.

This post has just the questions and the audio, with no attempt to summarize responses, no fact checking, and no commentary or analysis. My own thoughts are coming soon, but separately.

If you enjoy disclaimers, go reread the disclaimers from last time we did this together. For the rest of us, on with the show.

Attendance was about 12, not including candidates. That’s unusually low and somewhat disappointing, but we’ll hope for a larger audience watching the video recordings and listening to the audio here. The Chamber of Commerce, which hosted the event, has posted video recording on YouTube. Here also is the Daily Herald‘s report of the event. (Apologies for the unpleasant ad experience there.)

The moderator was Joe Phelon [“FEE-lawn”] Chairman of the Board of the American Fork Chamber of Commerce. Questions came from the audience, and some may have been submitted by email in advance.

All four candidates attended. They were seated in alphabetical order by first name:

  • Barbara Christiansen
  • Jeff Shorter (incumbent)
  • Kyle Barratt
  • Staci Carroll
Josh Walker, Barbara Christiansen, Jeff Shorter, Kyle Barratt, Staci Carroll

Josh Walker (Chamber of Commerce), Barbara Christiansen, Jeff Shorter, Kyle Barratt, Staci Carroll

Continue reading

Meet American Fork City Council Candidates

Our best opportunity to meet and grill American Fork’s four city council candidates is tomorrow morning, Saturday, October 6, at 9:30 a.m. It’s provided by the American Fork Chamber of Commerce (thanks!), and hosted by American Fork Hospital (thanks!) in their comfortable Education Room.

Neither mayoral candidate is able to attend but — forgive me, if you feel the need — the city council race is the interesting one anyway.

The easiest access is the emergency entrance at the front of the hospital. Once inside, I suggest you decline any proffered medical care — they charge for that — and find the Education Room back a bit and to your right. If you don’t arrive especially early, there should be signs to guide you. If there aren’t, just poke your head into rooms until you see something that looks political, or the staff becomes so distressed that they offer to escort you to your destination.

At 9:30 a..m. we get to chat with candidates informally. At 10:00 a.m. the formal question-and-answer period will begin. I’d anticipate it lasting 60 to 90 minutes.

You’re welcome to e-mail your questions in advance to chamber@afcity.net or submit them in writing at the event itself.

Also, I’m expecting a cookie — but I remember when it was pancakes.

In case you’re just arriving at the party, the four city council candidates on your November ballot in American Fork will be (in alphabetical order by surname, not necessarily my preference): Kyle Barratt, Barbara Christiansen, Staci Carroll, and incumbent Jeff Shorter. We voters each get to vote for two, and the two winners fill the available seats.

You’ve been wanting to get involved, and this is a great place to start. Even if you don’t know what to ask or what the issues are, come and observe and learn. The hot seat is for the candidates. The audience can relax, listen, and nibble the aforementioned cookie.

We plan to post audio here after the event, as we’ve done before, for those who can’t make it. For the rest of you . . . see you there! Bring the kids! Especially the teenagers! But don’t let them run laps around the room while everyone else tries to listen to the candidates and avoid unkind thoughts about their — ahem, the children’s — parentage. This isn’t a church dinner.

American Fork Election Results (updated)

Here’s an updated report of primary election results, based on updated counts released this afternoon. There will be further updates — by state law, on Tuesdays and Fridays — before the official canvass on Tuesday, August 29, but the votes added in subsequent updates will likely be far fewer.

The big news for American Fork voters is that the outcome of the city council race changed. Incumbent city councilor Jeff Shorter moved into fourth place ahead of Ernie John by 27 votes, pushing the latter out of the general election, if the result holds. This isn’t a big surprise; in Tuesday’s results the margin was a mere nine votes.

Continue reading

American Fork Election Results (Tentative)

I’ve been waiting to post local election results, hoping for numbers more recent than 10:09 p.m. on election night — given that most of the ballots were mailed, and a lot of them presumably didn’t arrive in time to be counted on Tuesday evening.

I finally called the county clerk’s office, where I learned that state law requires them to publish updated numbers on Fridays and Tuesdays, until the final canvass two weeks after election day. They said they might publish an update sooner, but so far they haven’t.

So without waiting further, let’s see what we know. Continue reading

David’s Handy American Fork Election Guide, 2017 Primary Edition

Warning: This post contains my own opinions. If you’ve come to afelection.info only for candidate information, such as contact information, our Q&A, or John Mulholland’s notes on his candidate interviews, and you don’t care to encounter my personal views, thanks for stopping by. Please use one of the links I just gave you to back away now.

For the rest of you, here are my quick thoughts on the races which appear on my ballot for the 2017 primary election in American Fork, including a race that’s there by mistake. If you want more commentary and analysis, see my notes on the mayoral and city council debates.

US House of Representatives, Utah District 3, Republican Primary

This race should not be on my ballot, and my vote won’t be counted if I cast one, because I am not longer a Republican. I do favor a closed primary, by the way, in which only Republicans vote to choose the Republican nominee. And I like that the signature method of getting on the ballot has given us — well, them — a solid alternative to Chris Herrod.

If I were voting, I’d favor Provo Mayor John Curtis over former state legislator Chris Herrod and newcomer Tanner Ainge. All three have credentials. Most of a million dollars of out-of-state money has been spent trying to convince voters that Herrod and Ainge are each the only true conservative in the race — spent by factions for whom truth and transparency are only two of the weapons in the arsenal, and apparently not the favorites.

I prefer a solid conservative record of governance (Curtis’s) over loudly-proclaimed conservative principles. (No, I don’t think Herrod is right when he claims Curtis can’t be a conservative because he supported Bus Rapid Transit.) I prefer in-state money to out-of-state money. And I prefer a productive, reasonable temperament to an unproven temperament (Ainge) or a proven record of uncivil behavior (Herrod, according to people I trust who’ve worked with him).

I also prefer workhorses to show horses, so Mayor Curtis will be a big step up from the Congressman he proposes to replace.

Curtis is the likely winner. I look forward to voting for him in the general election. If he loses, watch for the new United Utah Party to make a strong run, in the person of candidate Jim Bennett.

American Fork Mayor

Current Councilman Brad Frost is light years ahead of fellow Councilman Carlton Bowen and longtime resident Daniel Copper. We’ll wonder why we have to have a general election at all. I’m voting Brad Frost on the basis of experience, productivity, temperament, hard work, and not the slightest trace of ideological poisoning, among other things. He shows up, he does the math, he connects numbers and principles to the realities of governing, and he communicates well. This distinguishes him in an otherwise weak field.

More thoughts on this race are in my very candid notes on the mayoral debate.

American Fork City Council

We can vote for two city council candidates; four will proceed to the general election. This is an especially strong field of candidates; we should be grateful to them all for that. It would take some effort to cast a bad vote.

My votes go to Staci Carroll and Barbara Christiansen, with a wish that I had a third vote for Ernie John. These three lift themselves above other good candidates by their experience in local government and their extensive knowledge of city issues. A key factor in my two preferences among these three is their excellent communication (actual communication, not just skills) and the fact that they’ve been attending the council’s Thursday work sessions too, which cannot be watched online, not just attending or watching the regular Tuesday evening meetings.

That said, you’re not casting a bad vote, if you vote for incumbent Jeff Shorter, Kyle Barratt, or Doug Richards. As I said in my notes on the city council debate, we’d have rejoiced to have any of them in some of our previous city council races. I like them all — and in Councilman Shorter’s case, that’s a big change for me.

As regards the other two candidates, Bill Houlin dropped out of the race. As far as I know, Aaron Clegg hasn’t dropped out. But he’s basically been a no-show. That and the fact that all I know about him is that he has been endorsed on fliers touting Carlton Bowen and Chris Herrod . . .

Well, you never know whether he actually fits that unimpressive mold until you get to know him, his temperament, and his views. A similarly toxic right-wing faction backed current Councilman Kevin Barnes two years ago, until they found out that he didn’t fit their view of the world and didn’t want their endorsement. As soon as I got to know him, I became an eager supporter of Councilman Barnes, and I still am. We’ll talk about that in two years, if he runs again.

Anyway, maybe a vote for Aaron Clegg would be a bad vote. Maybe it wouldn’t. How would we know?

Watch for these four to emerge from the primary, not necessarily in this order: Staci Carroll, Barbara Christiansen, Ernie John, and Councilman Jeff Shorter. The contest in the general election will be a delight, with such a field.

Final Note

My friends, we’ve had over 4,500 page views at afelection.info during this primary election cycle, as of this morning. This leads us to think that our efforts to help connect voters to candidates are working. Thanks for reading!

Thanks especially to the candidates — to all of them for running, and to most of them for helping us here.

Thanks to John Mulholland for his interviews and his notes on them, and to Rod Martin for those “Learn Before You Vote” signs. (If you want one before the general election, holler.)

To the people who’ve stopped me on the street or called or e-mailed me, wanting to know for whom you should vote . . .

Those of you who want to hear my reasons flatter me.

Those of you who want only the names, not details, scare me a little. (Only a little, because I know you to be good people.)

To all of you, vote as you think best, of course . . . but vote!

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