Tag: Jeff Shorter (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

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.

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.

City Council Debate TL;DR

10/17/2023 / John Mulholland

Editor’s note:

American Fork’s five city council candidates debated various issues for an hour and a half Monday evening before an audience of about 70 at the American Fork Senior Center. Audio from the event will appear here later this week, and commentary and analysis should be posted here early next week. Watch for the event’s host and sponsor, the American Fork Chamber of Commerce, to post video. Meanwhile, frequent contributor John Mulholland has a different, quicker report.

Three four-year seats are available. Election Day is late this year, November 21.

Clark Taylor 2023 - American Fork City Council

Clark Taylor
I love American Fork
Pushing for fiber
Tax increase went 45% roads, 55% public safety
We finished Art Dye through the PARC tax
Incumbent

Ernie John
Water guy
I won’t kick the can down the road
Fiber is a utility now
Wells dropping a foot a year
The tax increase was needed

Tim Holley
Marine and in IT Sales
We are building a city
Some places with extreme weather have good roads
We need to have bike / pedestrian trails

Ken Sumsion
Accountant
Opposes fiber, it is a money pit
Opposes tax increases
Thinks the people should decide both on the ballot
Was in the state legislature

Jeff Shorter
Lawyer
Previously on City Council
Against taxes and fiber
Keep all single family zoning
Weather will always make roads bad

John Mulholland lives in American Fork, Utah. His reports on candidate interviews have appeared at AFelection.info since 2017. His writing on Utah politics has appeared at Utah Politico Hub.

Featured image credit: AI-generated, not a drawing of the candidates or the actual event. (DALL·E with prompt “pencil and watercolor drawing of five white men in suits sitting behind a rectangular folding table in a large room; the two men on the left are bald.”)

city council debate - American Fork - 2023

Important Date: October 16 – City Council Debate

10/14/2023 / David Rodeback

Voters in American Fork who like to be informed will want to be at the American Fork Senior Center Monday evening, October 16, for a City Council Debate sponsored by the American Fork Chamber of Commerce.

As usual, the event has two parts: an informal meet-and-greet from 6:30 to 7:00 p.m., and a debate from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.

What to Expect

In case you’ve never attended one of these events, I’ll give you an idea of what to expect. I haven’t consulted with the Chamber of Commerce about this specific event, but they tend to be very much alike.

2023 American Fork Primary Results

09/08/2023 / David Rodeback

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.