Tag: Carlton Bowen (Page 1 of 2)

Election Results – 2017 General Election

11/07/2017 / David Rodeback

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 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

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

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

11/02/2017 / David Rodeback

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

American Fork city council campaign signs

American Fork City Council Debate Audio – October 7, 2017

10/14/2017 / David Rodeback

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 a 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

American Fork Election Results (updated)

08/18/2017 / David Rodeback

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.

American Fork Election Results (Tentative)

08/17/2017 / David Rodeback

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

American Fork Candidates Q&A – Part 5 – Debt, Decisions, and More

08/12/2017 / David Rodeback

As before, I sent all the candidates the same questions. This time, more of them responded, and I’m still expecting another response or two, which I’ll happily post upon receipt.

Thanks to all the candidates who’ve participated in our little pre-primary Q&A.

Voters, don’t forget that your ballot, if mailed, must be postmarked no later than Monday, August 14, 2017. There are some in-person options on Tuesday. Further information is here.

Mayoral candidates Brad Frost and Carlton Bowen are on the November general election ballot in American Fork. Kyle Barratt, Barbara 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: 25 July 2017
Updated: 31 October 2017

city council candidates — City Council Candidates

Now Available: July 29 Candidate Audio and David’s Commentary

07/31/2017 / David Rodeback

Audio

I’ve just published four posts here which may interest American Fork voters. Two (one for each race) have audio from the July 29 meet-the-candidates event, divided by question or statement, with a bit of discussion but no opinion from me. Some folks like it that way, and that’s okay. The audio isn’t professional, but I hope you’ll find it adequate.

While we’re at it, here’s a link to the American Fork Chamber of Commerce’s video recording of the event, just posted today.

Opinion

The other two posts contain my summaries of candidate responses, my recommendations, and — especially in the case of the mayoral debate — my candid commentary about what we heard. One of the mayoral candidates consistently fares poorly in that analysis. If that sort of thing bugs you, you’ll understand why I put my opinions in separate posts — so you can avoid them. For what it’s worth, my thoughts on the city council race are much happier. It’s a very strong field.

So read these if you wish, but you’ve been warned:

Here are two final thoughts, lifted from my city council notes.

Whatever you may think of Washington, DC, these days, we’re a long way from there. We have every opportunity to be well-governed in American Fork. I’m not sure that choice was even on our ballot last November.

We owe all our candidates and their families a debt of gratitude for the effort and sacrifice required to run for office, let alone serve if elected. One way to show that gratitude would be to vote in larger numbers than usually turn out for a local primary — especially if we have learned before we vote.

Thanks for reading. Comments are always welcome, within the usual bounds of civility and readability.

David’s Notes on the June 29 City Council Debate

07/31/2017 / David Rodeback

As before, this is not an attempt to give a complete play-by-play report of everything each candidate said. It’s one guy’s notes and opinions, and I’ll be candid. That said, if you read my thoughts on the mayoral debate, you’ll notice that these take a different tone. There’s a good reason for that. The six candidates who showed up are a strong field.

There’s another good reason for that, now that I think of it. I set the bar higher for mayor.

Before we proceed, a warning: If you’re at this site just for information, not opinion and analysis, hit the back button now. This post is opinionated, though it takes a gentler, happier tone than my similar post on the mayoral debate — for good reason, as I suppose.

I came away from the event thinking that the six good candidates I heard divide themselves into two tiers. There have been races in the past where I’d have rejoiced to have any or all of the three second-tier candidates on my ballot. They seem sensible, they have some awareness of city government and its issues, and they have experiences and education which could make them an asset on the city council. I could vote for any of them, if it weren’t for the three candidates in the first tier.

The first-tier candidates distinguish themselves by their experience, mostly within and around city government, and their command of details. I wish I had three votes, and I’m going to spend some time deciding which particularly good candidate doesn’t get my vote, even as I hope for all three to survive the primary.

At the end I’ll tell which candidates I place in which tier.

As before, you don’t need me to tell you what they said. If you want to hear the candidates themselves, audio is available in a separate post. And I won’t always quote the questions here, though I do in the post with the audio. You may not need me to tell you what it all means — but I’m about to try, for anyone who’s interested.
Continue reading

David’s Very Candid Notes on the June 29 Mayoral Debate

07/31/2017 / David Rodeback

This is not an attempt to give a complete play-by-play report of everything each candidate said, though I will summarize the responses to a degree. It’s one guy’s notes and opinions, and you are duly warned: I’m not pulling punches here. Well, not very many. You may not like what you read, and you’re certainly entitled to your own views and your own vote.

I will do us both the favor of being candid.

You don’t need me to tell you everything they said. If you want to hear the candidates themselves, audio is available in a separate post. And I won’t always quote the questions here, though I do that in the post with the audio. And you may not need me to tell you what it means — but I’m about to try, for anyone who’s interested.

American Fork – Primary – Mayoral Candidates Audio

07/31/2017 / David Rodeback

Here’s the audio I recorded from the mayoral candidates’ portion of Saturday’s meet-the-candidates event at the American Fork Hospital. Purists might not call it a debate, I suppose, but it’s as close as we tend to get in our politics.

Here are a few disclaimers and some housekeeping.

The audio isn’t professional. You get what you get from my little Sony voice recorder, with a little help from Audacity for dynamic range compression and some noise suppression. The photos aren’t professional either.

I’ve split the audio into sections, by question or statement, and I haven’t deleted any part of any candidate response. Obviously, there’s no fact-checking built into any of this.

If you want my notes, commentary, and analysis, they’re in a separate post, so readers who wish to avoid them can do so easily.

Attendance was about 50, not including candidates. The moderator was State Auditor John Dougall. Questions came from the audience.

Audio from the city council candidates‘ portion of the event is in a separate blog post, and the American Fork Chamber of Commerce, which hosted the event, has posted a video recording of the event on YouTube. Here also is the Daily Herald‘s report of the event. (Apologies for the unpleasant ad experience there.)

Only mayoral candidates Brad Frost and Carlton Bowen were present at the event. The third candidate in the race, Daniel Copper, was absent. No explanation was offered, and no opening or closing statement was read for him in his absence. Continue reading