The candidates behind in each of those two races ended up pulling ahead and winning. They were Susan Lee in the Davis County Commission Seat B race over two-term incumbent Lorene Kamalu and Jon Atkin over Aaron Perry in the Davis County Sheriff race.

After the first release on election night, Kamalu led Lee 50.76% (17,955 votes) to 49.24% (17,416 votes), while Perry led Atkin 50.21% (17,447 votes) to 49.79% (17,301 votes).

Among the remaining votes that were counted, Lee defeated Kamalu 57.69% (4,971 votes) to 42.31% (3,646 votes) to win by 786 votes and 1.79% overall, while Atkin defeated Perry 56.58% (4,803 votes) to 43.42% (3,686 votes) to win by 971 votes and 2.25% overall.

Both Lee and Atkin won at the Davis County GOP Convention.

Improvement as ballots continued to be counted by those who won at or otherwise performed well at convention was a theme of the election.

Not all convention winners or those who did well at convention did better among results counted after the initial release than their opponents, as Lee and Atkin did, but the margins were noticeably better.

In the Davis County Commission Seat A race between former Bountiful Mayor Kendalyn Harris, Scott Fletcher and John Adams, Harris led with 43.72% after the initial release of results. Fletcher was second with 29.60% and Adams had 26.68%. Among the votes counted afterward, Harris led Fletcher 38.87% to 37.56% (just 114 votes), while Adams had 23.57%. Fletcher was the convention winner.

In the House District 16 race, Davis County Commissioner Bob Stevenson was leading two-term incumbent Trevor Lee by 33.46% after the initial results, but among the results counted afterward, Stevenson had a 15.83% advantage. Stevenson defeated Lee at convention, but Lee managed to gain enough support to advance to the primary despite not gathering signatures.

In the Davis County clerk race, incumbent Brian McKenzie was leading Jona Whitesides by 27.83% after the initial results, but among the results counted afterward, McKenzie had a 13.99% advantage. Whitesides won at convention.

In the Senate District 6 race between Kaysville Mayor Tami Tran and Robert Wanlass, Tran’s advantage went from 43.50% after the initial release to 32.40% among the votes counted afterward. Wanlass won at convention.

In the House District 14 race, John Taylor was the convention winner and was leading Kara Toone by 10.52% after the initial release. Among the votes counted afterward, Taylor’s advantage was 24.26%.

Senate District 7 provided an interesting contrast. Senate President Stuart Adams won at convention, with Braden Hess finishing second, yet Adams performed worse after the initial ballots were released, going from 34.77% after the initial release to 31.89% among the ballots counted afterward. Meanwhile, Hess improved, going from 21.77% to 26.10%. Stephanie Hollist, who won the race, went from 43.46% to 42.00%.

The House District 17 race also provided a contrast. Lili Bitner, who won at convention, was leading Sam Barlow by 41.70% initially but led him by 36.66% among the votes counted afterward.

The trend continued in the two Weber County Commission races.

Duane Kearsley and former Plain City Mayor Jon Beesley both won at convention and both improved significantly after the initial release.

Kearsley led James Ebert by 4.13%, Katrina Gibson by 4.45% and Richard Hyer by 11.96% after the initial release. Among the votes counted afterward, Kearsley led Ebert by 11.30%, Gibson by 13.44% and Hyer by 21.14%.

Beesley led incumbent Sharon Bolos by 9.63% after the initial release and by 18.38% among the votes counted after.

McKenzie told the Standard-Examiner that the initial ballot release included in-person early voting as well as by-mail ballots received (in mail and drop boxes) through early afternoon on election day.

He said subsequent results from election night included in-person election day voters and that the ballot updates after election day included more by-mail ballots and provisional ballots.

Weber County Clerk/Auditor Ricky Hatch told the Standard-Examiner that the first release of results on election night included all ballots received as of that afternoon, and that the later releases included ballots retrieved from drop boxes after the election day afternoon sweep, in-person voters on election day, provisional ballots and ballots that were challenged but cured.

In addressing Lee and Atkin coming from behind and the trend overall, Davis County GOP Chair Don Guymon highlighted the nature of Republican voters on election day.

“Many conservatives prefer to vote in person or wait until Election Day, often returning their ballots to a drop box on Election Day rather than voting early,” he told the Standard-Examiner. “The ballots that were counted later were ballots cast on Election Day. I believe that is one reason we saw the shift in the results, as those Election Day voters were included in the final count.”

In the lone Democratic primary in the two counties, Christina “CJ” Hernandez led Dakota Wurth 59.07% (1,762 votes) to 40.93% (1,221 votes) after the initial release, but among the subsequent votes counted, Wurth led Hernandez by one vote (359 to 358).

The Standard-Examiner reached out to Danielle King, chair of the Davis County Democratic Party, for comment on the difference but did not receive a response.

Contact Standard-Examiner editor Ryan Comer at rcomer@standard.net.