North
Logan hopes for election results by Thursday
By Natalie Andrews
November 15, 2005 | NORTH LOGAN -- Residents
are learning lessons on patience while they wait for
the results from the municipal elections Nov. 8. A recount
could delay the outcome longer.
"The elections that I have supervised over the 11
years I have been here have never been this close,"
City Administrator Jeff Jorgenson said.
Mayoral candidates Allen Kartchner and Cary Watkins
are split. Council incumbent Elaine Nelson was elected
with a third of the city's vote and candidates Troy
Oldham and Steve Soulier are waiting with 28.6 percent
of the votes each. Richard Marlow pulled in 10 percent.
"I was expecting the city council race to be close
but not the mayoral race," Jorgenson said of the city's
surprise at the sudden predicament.
The City Council will review the 26 provisional ballots
and absentee ballot Thursday. According to the North
Logan Web site, ballots are taken as provisional when
the voter was registered, but not in the book of voters
or challenged in some way. This often happens when a
voter moves to a new precinct and doesn't change his
or her address.
The provisional ballots are combined with the absentee
ballots for counting at a later date, usually a week
after the election. The process is always the same;
the races, however, are not.
Jorgenson reports that most resident concern surrounding
the election has concerned the provisional ballots because
many are unfamiliar with the system.
The city is expecting results of some sort Thursday.
"That is assuming the results are such that there
is no recount, Jorgenson said. "If a recount is requested
we will not know until after that takes place." A recount
can be requested if the votes are within six, because
there are six precincts. Jorgenson supervises the recount,
and the results of the recount are final.
Should there genuinely be a tie in North Logan, Kartchner
and Watkins might be deciding on who will lead the city
in the kick-off.
"If the count from the provisional ballots and the
late absentee ballots results in an exact tie, then
my understanding is that the winner is chosen by lot
such as the flip of a coin or something similar," Jorgenson
said.
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