Category: 2023 American Fork election (Page 1 of 4)

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.

Taylor, John, and Holley

Here’s part of the postcard:

taxes - woman studying sheets of numbers

Straight Talk About Taxes

11/09/2023 / David Rodeback

If you were at the October 16 American Fork City Council candidate debate or listened to the audio or watched the video, you might have wished for some detailed background about how property taxes work. Here I’ll give you that background as concisely as I can, then say a few words about the candidates with respect to these issues.

(My other responses to what I heard at that debate are in the previous post. It’s about twice as long as this one.)

This post is heavy on information, for those of who seek only that here, but the closer we get to the end, the more you’ll get my opinions.

debate thoughts - American Fork election 2023 - thinking man in blue shirt

Thoughts on the October 16 Debate

11/08/2023 / David Rodeback

When I posted audio, one file per topic, from the October 16 American Fork City Council candidate debate, I promised to return with my own thoughts. It’s taken longer than I hoped, but Election Day is still almost two weeks away, and this is that post. (The American Fork Chamber of Commerce posted video of the event at its YouTube channel. See also frequent contributor John Mulholland’s TL;DR.)

If you want to know what every candidate said on every topic, please listen to the audio. Getting it straight from the candidates is best. Here I’m choosing the things I want to discuss, not trying to report or even summarize everything.

I’ll tell you what I think and why. if you’re here just for information, not opinion and analysis, exit after the next section, and thanks for reading.

Straight Talk About Fiber

10/28/2023 / David Rodeback

It’s past time for a fresh batch of straight talk here about citywide fiber optic broadband in American Fork. There’s a lot of information about the City’s project at the City website, and it’s well worth reading. But here we’ll do something the City can’t. We’ll look at the project in the context of the current city council election.

If you’re one of those readers (thank you for reading!) who seeks only information here and prefers to avoid analysis, commentary, and opinion, proceed with caution. There’s information here, but it’s arrayed against incomplete and inaccurate information spread by two of the five American Fork City Council candidates, and there’s some analysis, commentary, and opinion in the mix. But I’ll meet you halfway, sort of. I’ll only name those two candidates at the very end, in case that helps you focus on the information.

I’m firmly in favor of the project, but there are legitimate reasons why well-informed voters might oppose it. As in many other realms of our political discourse, I wish people would argue for or against a thing (or candidate) for legitimate reasons, without thinking they have to abandon truth and context in favor of spin, selective information, and untruth.

I’ve said that before. Call me naive — or perhaps spoiled, lately — but I expect better in American Fork than we sometimes get from other levels of our politics.

five men at a table facing the audience - debate TL;DR

City Council Debate Audio

10/23/2023 / David Rodeback

On Monday evening, October 16, 2023, all five American Fork City Council candidates appeared at the American Fork Senior Center in a debate. Not including the candidates, attendance was about 70, which is unusually high for such an event.

The American Fork Chamber of Commerce hosted the event. They have posted video of the event at their YouTube channel.

Audio recordings of the candidates’ complete statements and answers are presented here unedited, except for some noise reduction and audio level adjustments, and without comment or analysis.

Format

Except for timed opening and closing statements, candidates each had one minute to respond to a question or topic. If any candidate requested a 30-second rebuttal, all were allow an additional 30 seconds.

Questions were submitted by voters attending the event and by members of the Chamber of Commerce in advance of the event.

Harry Reid - pencil and watercolor portrait - dirty trick

The Anatomy of the Dirty Trick

10/21/2023 / David Rodeback

We don’t always see a dirty trick in our American Fork political campaigns, but we see them occasionally. There’s cause to suspect we’ll see at least one in this general election cycle, aimed at taking down at least one leading candidate. Before that happens (if it does), let’s talk about campaign dirty tricks in general.

We’ll look at what they are and aren’t, their typical attributes, and how we voters can respond intelligently and responsibly when they appear. I’ll give examples, local and otherwise. Some will be historical, some hypothetical, and I’ll be clear about which is which.