Is it just me, or has Election Day lost most of its sizzle, what with the meaningful vote count continuing for days thereafter — technically, weeks — and some doubt as to many of the results for a while? I used to jump in to report election results on Election Night, but now, well, it’s Friday, as you see. Here are some primary results.
No Change in American Fork, But . . .
In American Fork’s case, new vote counts haven’t changed the outcome at all since late Tuesday evening, and the margins are too large for anything like that to happen between now and the official canvass later this month. But you may have noticed a special election in a certain congressional district to the north, west, and south of American Fork. (See map below, courtesy of congress.gov.) There the apparent winner on Election Night, Becky Edwards, conceded yesterday to Celeste Maloy, after more votes came in.
Results: American Fork City Council
Here are the American Fork primary results as of yesterday afternoon. (If you follow the link, you’ll get the latest published count; as of this writing, it happens to be from Thursday, September 7, at 4:01 p.m.)
Six Advance to the General Election
Six candidates advance to the November 21 general election, vying for three seats on the American Fork City Council (four-year terms).
- Clark Taylor – 2,167
- Ken Sumsion – 1,365
- Ernie John = 1,309
- Tim Holley – 1,219
- Austin Duke – 1,077
- Jeff Shorter – 1,005
Three Candidates are Eliminated
- Elizabeth Gray – 770
- James Boden – 755
- Christina Ballard – 668
All nine candidates deserve our gratitude for running — putting their name on their views — and in at least one case for absorbing brutal online abuse (of which more soon).
I Kibbitz
If you’re interested in watching Utah County’s progress in counting ballots, there’s a dashboard I haven’t seen before at the county website. It doesn’t distinguish votes by city, but it’s interesting to election geeks, at least.
I predicted these six would advance; I almost got the order right. I’m so often wrong about such things that I have to point out when I’m right, you see.
The county hasn’t reported data yet that would allow us to calculate the turnout in American Fork specifically. That comes later. Turnout countywide (based on ballots counted so far) was about 20 percent, which isn’t surprising for a midterm election held at an odd time.
Except for Clark Taylor and his enormous lead, I wouldn’t put much stock in the order of the six finishers. It’s likely to be different in the general election. We have two and a half months of campaigning between now and then. Moreover, the turnout should be much higher. That means not just more voters, but somewhat different voter demographics.
More information and commentary will follow soon. Meanwhile, thanks for reading! There were thousands of you. And to John Mulholland and Bryce Shelley, thanks for writing!
Melinda (and earlier commenters), thanks for reading, and especially for sharing your thoughts.
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