IMAGES COURTESY SANDY NEILL, SANPETE COUNTY CLERK
Election night results for all the municipalities in Sanpete County who held a primary election. The final results will be announced when the cities hold their canvass of the election which will be sometime between August 17th and August 24th.
The 2021 Sanpete County municipal election showed enthusiasm for public service as there were more primary runoffs for city council seats than in previous years.
Sanpete Messenger Associate Publisher Lloyd Call will recount from time to time that his father, former Messenger owner Max Call, often said that everyone should take the opportunity to serve the public once at least once on a city council, so he might have been be pleased to hear that, in total, seven out of Sanpete’s 13 municipalities held a primary election to narrow down the playing field, a big jump in participation from 2019’s two primary elections for council in Gunnison and Fountain Green.
The following races had enough candidates to necessitate a primary election, and initial results were released on Tuesday, Aug. 10.
Fairview
Six candidates were competing for two 4-year council seats in Fairview; results showed incumbents were in clear favor with Casey Anderson taking 234 votes (38.05 percent) and Shirlene Rasmussen taking 185 votes (30.08 percent). Sean P. Rawlinson was next up with 96 votes (15.61 percent), followed by Kirk A. Watts with 40 votes (6.50 percent).
Talon Peterson had 33 votes (5.37 percent) and Aaron Watts had 27 votes (4.39 percent), but neither candidate will move on to the general election.
Voter turnout for Fairview City’s primary election was 43.57 percent, after 322 out of 739 registered voters participated.
Gunnison
Only a single 2-year council seat was up for grabs in Gunnison’s primary election. Initially there were three candidates vying for it, but Holly Bown was disqualified due to not meeting the deadline to disclose a required financial form, leaving Michael Wanner listed as the heavy hitter with 251 votes (84.51 percent). The disqualification will mean Jay Clayton, who garnered 46 votes (15.49 percent) will stay on the ballot to compete with Wanner in the general election.
The disqualification skews the voter turnout numbers; but figuring in only Wanner’s and Clayton’s votes, the resulting turnout is 36.83 percent from 355 qualified votes cast out of 94 registered voters.
Manti
In Manti City, there were two 4-year council seats up for grabs; 1,046 voters out of 1,911 total registered sent in their picks for the two spots, resulting in a 54.74 percent voter turnout.
Incumbent Mary Lonnie Wintch garnered the most votes with 637 (32.58 percent). Next up was Jeffrey W. Killian with 427 votes (21.84 percent). Gary Erickson had 329 votes (16.83 percent). Cory D. Schmidt had 287 (14.68 percent).
Stephanie Whitney, who will drop off the ballot, had 275 votes (14.07 percent).
Darren Dyreng, who currently occupies a seat on the Manti City Council, is also running for city mayor. If Dyreng is elected mayor, he will then have to resign his council seat, and a council replacement will be appointed.
Mayfield
Six candidates put their name in the hat to run for Mayfield Town Council’s two available 4-year seats. Incumbent Mike Bennett topped the list with 108 votes (28.72 percent), followed by Jaden L James with 101 votes (2.86 percent). Diane C. Johnson was next with 54 votes (14.36 percent), followed by Steven D. Liddiard with 43 votes (11.44 percent).
The two candidates to fall off the ballot will be Wesley Coates with 41 votes (10.9 percent) and Patty Glauser with 29 votes (7.71 percent).
Mayfield Town earned the highest voter turnout from council primaries with 59.57 percent, due to 196 out of 329 registered voters participating.
Moroni
There are two seats available for 4-year city council in Moroni this year. The most votes in total went to incumbent (Fred) Thayne Atkinson, with 205 votes (31.93 percent). Second highest was Brad Aldridge with 170 votes (26.48 percent). Incumbent Troy Prestwich pulled 137 votes (21.34 percent), followed by Brandon B. Mellor with 82 (12.77 percent).
Richard Nelson will drop off the ballot after garnering 48 votes (7.48 percent).
In total, 334 of Moroni’s 698 registered voters put in their vote, resulting in a 47.85 percent turnout.
Mt. Pleasant
Mt. Pleasant had six candidates running for two 4-year council seats. Paul C. Madsen took 431 votes (28.7 percent), followed by Lynn Beesley with 276 votes (18.38 percent). Dianne Blackham had the next highest votes out of the candidates with 229 (15.25 percent), followed by Donalyn L. Shock with 209 (13.91 percent).
The candidates who did not make the cut were Robert A. Marx with 182 (12.12 percent) and Mark Hightower with 175 (11.65 percent).
The city, which has 1,698 registered voters, had 789 of those participate in the primary election, resulting in a 46.47 percent turnout.
Spring City
Four candidates were vying to stay on the ballots in competition for a single 2-year seat on the Spring City Council. Timothy Clark took the most votes with 88 in total (31.10 percent), followed by George Kenzy with 78 (27.56 percent).
Kristine Hansen’s 69 votes (24.38 percent) and Kimberly Lloyd Stewart’s 48 votes (16.9 percent) were not enough to carry them forward to the main event.
Spring City had 629 registered voters on the books and 299 of them took part in the primary, resulting in a 47.54 percent turnout.
