Fields narrowed in West Haven mayoral contest, 2 Ogden City Council races
Election workers Patti Sawyer, right, and Sarah Cowley await voters on Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021, at the in-person voting location at the Weber Center in Ogden. Primary voting culminated Tuesday.
From right, election workers Cole Spicker, Tracy Pendleton and Terrie Ferrier await voters on Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021, at the in-person voting location at the Weber Center in Ogden. Primary voting culminated Tuesday.
OGDEN — The field of candidates for city offices across Weber County is getting smaller.
Primary voting ended Tuesday, and in the race to lead West Haven — the only mayoral primary in Weber County — Rob Vanderwood, a member of the City Council, and Sharon Bolos, the incumbent, took the top two slots. They move on to the Nov. 2 ballot, according to preliminary returns tallied by the Weber County Elections Office.
Vanderwood actually won just over 50% of the votes, 1,006, while Bolos, seeking her third term, garnered 798, or 39.8% of the total. Pat Young finished in third with 201 votes, 10% of the total and is eliminated from contention.
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West Haven Mayor Sharon Bolos, left, and Rob Vanderwood, a City Council member, will face off in the Nov. 2, 2021, general election. They finished top in the city’s mayoral primary, according to preliminary totals released Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021.
In Ogden City, two City Council primaries were on the ballot, for the at-large A seat and the District 3 post.
Marcia White, the incumbent in the at-large A post easily took the top spot in a crowded field of six candidates, garnering 3,205 votes, 60.3% of the total. She moves on to the Nov. 2 ballot along with Daniel Gladwell, the second-place finisher, who mustered 702 votes, or 13.2%. Eliminated from contention were John Thompson, Jase Reyneveld, John Ogden and Jack Barnes.
In the race for the District 3 seat, the two top vote-getters were separated by just 10 votes and will face off again in November. Priscilla Martinez received 674 votes, 45.2% of the total, while Ken Richey had 664, 44.7% of the total. Finishing third and out of contention was Mary Khalaf, who received 146 votes. Doug Stephens currently holds the District 3 post, but he didn’t run for reelection.
In North Ogden, seven candidates were on the ballot for two at-large posts with the top four moving on to the general election. Incumbent Blake Cevering finished on top with 1,449 votes, 26.8% of the total. Next were Jay Dalpias, 1,065 votes, 19.7%; Stefanie Casey, 1,051 votes, 19.5%; and Spencer Stephens, 804 votes, 14.9%.
Election workers Max Pendleton awaits voters on Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021, at the in-person voting location at the Weber Center in Ogden. Primary voting culminated Tuesday.
Finishing fifth and out of contention, according to the preliminary totals, was Gregory Smith, whose candidacy had sparked a furor among some because of his affiliation with the loosely defined #DezNat movement. Smith, who garnered 388 votes, 7.2% of the total, says the movement is focused on defending The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Its critics take a more severe approach, equating it with white nationalism, homophobia and more given the backgrounds of some who use the hashtag.
Finishing next in North Ogden were Anthony Swenson and Merrill Sunderland.
Eight ran for two at-large seats on the Washington Terrace City Council and the top four move on to the November ballot. The four, according to the preliminary numbers, are Jill Christiansen, who received 441 votes, 21.2%; incumbent Jeff West, 346 votes, 16.6%; Nathan Howard, 345 votes, 16.6%; and incumbent Larry Weir, 288 votes, 13.8%.
Out of contention in Washington Terrace are Kathleen Craynor, Scott Simpson, Hayden Christensen and Cody Harris.
More ballots will trickle in via mail and additional ballots cast late in drop boxes have yet to be tallied. Those will be added to Tuesday’s preliminary totals in coming days by election officials. But the outcome won’t likely change given the margins in the preliminary returns.
Preliminary turnout totaled 19.5%. Of the 58,600 eligible voters, 11,450 cast ballots.
More mayoral and city council contests are to be decided on Nov. 2. Many hopefuls didn’t appear on the primary ballot because their races didn’t have enough candidates.
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