Author: David Rodeback (Page 1 of 12)

Where to find discussion of the November 2025 Election

10/28/2025 / David Rodeback / 0 Comments

As you may have noticed, AFelection.info has moved to Substack—for new content, that is. You can see posts without subscribing, but subscribing is free, and you get new posts in your e-mail.

Two posts are available there:

Candidate info for American Fork City races and relevant Aspen Peaks School Board races.
Brief analysis and commentary in the form of my handy little voters guide.

Please remember that the state’s election rules have changed. The county clerk must receive your mailed ballot no later than Election Day. I’d allow at least five mail days or simply use a dropbox, such as the one at the American Fork Library.

See you at Substack!

AFelection.info has moved to Substack

08/12/2025 / David Rodeback

American Fork readers, for the past ten years, whenever there was a local election, you’ve flocked to afelection.info for information about candidates and issues, and for analysis and opinion.

You got none of that here for today’s Aspen Peaks School Board primary election, and I apologize. There have been some technical issues for a while now, including today, as I’ve tried to create and post this brief note. Even without those, the way this summer has gone, I knew virtually nothing about any of the candidates until last evening, the eve of the election.

If you wonder, why Substack? I explain it here: AFelection.info has moved to Substack.

And I did write some thoughts there about the school board candidates: My Too Little, Too Late Notes on the 2025 Aspen Peaks School Board Primary (Seats 6 and 7). At least it’s a head start on discussing the general election.

There are two ways to access the new American Fork Election Info Substack:

Visit it as you visit any website: https://afelection.substack.com.
Subscribe by supplying your e-mail address, so you receive new posts in your e-mail or see them in the Substack app on your phone. It’s a free subscription, and I won’t sell or give away your e-mail address. And it’s easy to cancel. To subscribe, follow any of the links in this post to Substack and click a Subscribe button.

Thanks for reading here for the past decade. See you there!

AFelection.info is moving to Substack (still free)

07/27/2025 / David Rodeback

In fact, it just did. A free subscription is your best bet, but not required. If you’re curious about the reasons, pay a visit.

If you’re looking for information and commentary in advance of the primary election, which is for school board races only, you’ll find it here, which is to say, there.

There’s more to come, including discussion of the races for American Fork Mayor and City Council, but those races don’t involve primaries.

There are paid Substack subscriptions–I have a few, generally for $5 or $6 per month–but the AF Election Info Substack is free. Subscribe–did I mention for free–and you’ll get every post in your e-mail during local election season, and mostly crickets otherwise.

Proposition 11 election results - Alpine School District split

How Cities Voted on the Alpine School District Split

11/25/2024 / David Rodeback

The Statement of Votes Cast (SOVC) for the 2024 general election, available from Utah County, shows the vote for every candidate and proposition in every precinct of Utah County, as well and the number of registered voters and the number of votes cast in each precinct, from which we calculate voter turnout.

I’m an election junkie and therefore, perhaps, a bit of a spreadsheet junkie, so I dug in primarily to see how the various cities voted on Propositions 11 and 14, to create new school districts from the northern and western cities in the Alpine School District, respectively.

To Split or Not to Split the Alpine School District: One Voter’s Thoughts on Prop 11 and Prop 14

10/28/2024 / David Rodeback

Much is said for, against, and simply about the proposed split of the Alpine School District (ASD) via ballot Propositions 11 and 14. I won’t try to report or evaluate all of it here. I’ll do two things:

explain what’s on the ballot and how it will work, as clearly as I can, and
discuss several issues and arguments, and how, for me, they move the needle or don’t.

After a quick preview of questions (discussion follows later), a bit of editorial housekeeping, and two requests, we’ll get to the information part. If you read here only for information and want to leave before the opinion and analysis, you’ll know when.

American Fork: 2023 Election Results

11/22/2023 / David Rodeback

American Fork City Council election results won’t be certified for a couple more weeks, give or take, but additional ballots counted today and reported this afternoon take the apparent results from likely to virtually certain.

We won’t have a clear picture of turnout until the vote is certified, but if turnout is anything like the 38% we saw in 2021, there could be another thousand ballots out there and yet to be counted.

That said, with Ernie John leading Ken Sumsion by more than 500 votes for the third available seat on the council, a change in the final outcome is extremely unlikely.

Here are the unofficial results as of this evening, according to the Utah County website. (Rudimentary precinct data is available there too. Don’t get excited about the two precincts with zero votes. At the time of the primary election, there were only ten registered voters there, at least on the books, and none of them voted in the primary.)

Unofficial winners of four-year terms on the American Fork City Council are incumbent Clark Taylor, Tim Holley, and Ernie John. They’ll be sworn in just after New Year’s Day.

Clark Taylor	3,046 votes	25.41%
Tim Holley	2,824 votes	23.56%
Ernie John	2,429 votes	20.27%
Ken Sumsion	1,927 votes	16.08%
Jeff Shorter	1,760 votes	14.68%

Looking simply at numbers, this is an especially strong showing by Holley, who finished fourth in the primary voting. It’s a solid performance by John, who was third in the primary. It’s no surprise at all that Taylor, a popular incumbent, finished first in both elections.

Sumsion, a former Utah State Representative, finished second in the primary but slipped to fourth in the general election. Shorter, who served a four-year term on the council from 2014 through 2017, finished fifth in the general election after finishing sixth in the primary behind Austin Duke, who dropped out of the general election before the November ballots were printed.

Hearty congratulations to the winners; our thanks to the rest.

The Woman Next Door

Congratulations also to Kelly Smith, a former American Fork resident and still an active friend of all things AF. (One might even say she’s All About American Fork.) She won a second term on the Cedar Hills City Council. She finished first in a four-way race for three available seats.

Image credit: generated by DALL-E

roasted turkey on a table, with American flag in the background - thank you

Election Day Thanks to Many, Including You

11/21/2023 / David Rodeback

Last time, I — we — thanked the candidates. Today, on our belated Election Day, when it’s too late to mail your ballot but you can still use the dropbox at the library or vote there in person, both until 8:00 p.m. . . . Today we focus our thanks on some other good people.

bouquet of flowers with thank-you note - thank candidates

No Politics, Just Candidates

11/15/2023 / David Rodeback

Election Day is less than a week away, Tuesday, November 21. I’ve been candid in my evaluations of candidates and their views (here, here, here, here, here, and here). But this is not about that. For a few minutes, let’s step back from issues and from debating which candidates will be best for American Fork. Let’s talk about candidates as people — because I’m fairly certain all five city council candidates are human, not holograms or deep fakes or Cylons or whatever.

(This post is more opinion than information, but it doesn’t take sides. It might be comfortable for information-only readers.)

Candidates, we thank you! It’s not easy, this thing you’re doing. A lot of it isn’t fun. And in the final days before Election Day, whatever that means anymore, it’s even less fun.

drawing of family standing in front of a tree - Like a Family

Like a Family (Not?)

11/11/2023 / David Rodeback

One of our American Fork city council candidates likes to say we should run the City — specifically its finances — like a family budget. He even registered a web domain about it: voteforfamilybudget.com.

I’m jaded and cynical, when it comes to political talking points, including “Manage City as a Family Budget.” I like to crack them open and see if there’s any substance beneath the shiny sound bite.

. . . Which makes this one of those opinion-and-analysis posts, sez I to warn readers who come here only for information. (Thanks for stopping by again. Let’s all learn BEFORE we vote.)

My Family

I know next to nothing about this candidate’s family, though I readily accept that he has one. I’ve seen a photo. Odds are I know next to nothing about your family too. Families vary widely, so the best I can do here is compare how we’ve done things in my family over the years with how things do or could work in American Fork City government.

I have a quick tangent, then we’ll dive in. Like any proper tangent, it really does intersect with my topic.

2023 American Fork general election ballot - David's election guide

David’s Handy Little Election Guide (November 2023 Edition)

11/10/2023 / David Rodeback

This time, I can’t make my election guide any clearer than a large postcard which recently appeared in mailboxes across American Fork. That’s no surprise, once you know that I drafted the copy and my name is one of a couple dozen it lists, endorsing three excellent candidates for American Fork City Council: Clark Taylor, Ernie John, and Tim Holley.

First we’ll look briefly at the substance of the matter. Then I’ll tell you where the postcard came from — because we don’t hide in the shadows.