Lesser still leads in House race; Weber school board race too close to call
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- Dmitry Skoog fills out a ballot at the Weber County Fairgrounds in-person voting site in Ogden on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022.
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- Utah Rep. Rosemary Lesser, right, poses during an election night activity she hosted at The Monarch in Ogden on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022. With her, from left, are 1st District U.S. House hopeful Rick Jones and District 8 Utah House hopeful Monica Hall, Democrats like Lesser. Both Jones and Hall were defeated in their bids, according to preliminary vote numbers.
OGDEN — New vote totals from Weber County are out, but with more yet to be tallied, Rep. Rosemary Lesser, the leader in the District 10 Utah House race, isn’t declaring victory.
Likewise, the two candidates in the tight District 6 Weber school board contest, incumbent Janis Christensen and Heidi Gross, are biding their time, waiting for more numbers, expected to come out Monday. That’s the closest race in the county, with Christensen currently holding a slight edge.
After new numbers added to totals late Thursday, Lesser, a Democrat, is still ahead of Republican challenger Jill Koford, though the margin has narrowed. Lesser, the sole Democrat in Weber County’s legislative delegation, is seeking election to the spot for the first time. She was appointed to the post in 2021 following the death of Rep. Lou Shurtliff and, as a Democrat, is a rarity in the Utah Legislature.
“I’m still watching the total vote tallies,” Lesser said Friday. “I think it’s really important to take in what every single voter has to say.”
Koford didn’t respond to a query seeking comment.
According to the latest vote figures, Lesser had 4,642 votes, 52.4% of the total, while Koford had 4,218, 47.6%. After the first batch of numbers released following the close of voting Tuesday night, Lesser led by a slightly larger margin, 53.8%-46.2%. According to Lesser, around 1,000 more ballots are left to be counted in the race, the closest in Weber County after the District 6 Weber school board contest.
Christensen widened her lead slightly over Gross in the District 6 Weber school board race after additional votes were added to totals on Thursday. She had 4,529 votes, 50.4% of the total, while Gross had 4,465, or 49.6%. After the first batch on Tuesday evening, Christensen held a 50.2%-49.8% advantage.
Christensen, seeking her third term, wasn’t declaring victory, the narrow lead notwithstanding. “There are more votes to be counted on Monday,” she said.
Gross sounded a similar message. “I’m just waiting for the numbers to all come out,” she said.
Around 76,000 voters in all across Weber County cast ballots this election cycle, according to Weber County Clerk/Auditor Ricky Hatch. Of those, 11,000 to 12,000 still need to be counted, with those results expected by late Monday afternoon.
With the new numbers Thursday, preliminary margins in other Weber County races — wider than District 10 Utah House and District 6 Weber school board contests — didn’t appreciably change.
60% TURNOUT
Total turnout this cycle didn’t quite meet original expectations. Hatch’s office initially expected 80% turnout among active registered voters then lowered that to 75% as Election Day neared. Actual turnout, 76,000 or so voters among the 126,171 registered voters, will end up being around 60%.
“I wish that number were much higher, but turnout is driven primarily by what contests are on the ballot. The heavy rain on election day probably had a small depressive effect on turnout,” Hatch said.
Confusion over in-person voting sites in Weber County on Tuesday brought some to the Weber Center in Ogden’s center, though the actual locations were the Weber County fairgrounds complex and the Ogden Valley Branch library in Huntsville. The situation prompted Hatch’s office to open up the Weber Center to voting late Tuesday afternoon.
“We had about 60 people vote at the Weber Center. They were very appreciative,” Hatch said. “Approximately 20-30 voters expressed frustration about the conflicting information about polling places.”
Online outlets, including Google, incorrectly identified the Weber Center as an in-person voting site, leading to the confusion on Tuesday. As a result, Hatch estimates that perhaps 300 voters ended up having to travel from the Weber Center to the fairgrounds to vote, before the Weber Center was opened to balloting.
That 300-voter figure represents about 9% of in-person voters and 0.4% of all voters, including the vast majority who mailed their ballots or put them in drop boxes, according to Hatch.
Just one new face will be joining the ranks of Weber County’s elected officials following Tuesday’s voting — Republican Sharon Bolos, elected to Seat B on the Weber County Commission. She’ll replace Scott Jenkins, who didn’t seek reelection.
She said she’s already been prepping to take on the new job. She previously served as West Haven mayor.
“Beginning in January, I will be meeting with all department heads, not just those in my portfolio. I want to get an understanding of the county from all aspects,” Bolos said in a message to the Standard-Examiner. She’s also eager to meet more Weber County employees.
She had already been delving into county matters, taking part in some of the Weber County budget sessions last month. On the commission, she’ll join Gage Froerer, elected to his second term on Tuesday, and Jim Harvey, who wasn’t up for election this cycle.
The other incumbent county officials reelected to office include County Attorney Chris Allred, Sheriff Ryan Arbon and Hatch, the clerk/auditor.