HURRICANE — In Hurricane’s last City Council meeting, the town’s assembly voted on whether to remain in their Interlocal Election Agreement with Washington County or forge ahead and conduct elections using city staff overseeing volunteers.
Washington County Attorney Eric Clarke made an appearance at last week’s meeting. He told the council if they voted to end the agreement, in which the county pays for ballots, mailing, machine counting and, if needed, hand counting during an audit, they would be the only city in Utah to do so.
“Going away from the machines and doing hand counts is a less accurate way to count ballots,” Clarke stated. “It has worked for the last several years in Utah.”
Councilman Joseph Prete told those in attendance that, in his opinion, there is wrongdoing in the ballot counting process, though it was unclear which election he was speaking about.
“My feeling all along has been that, whether it’s grounded or not, there is widespread, you know, question mark about the election process and the machines,” he said.
At the end of the discussion, Clark stated he learned much from speaking with Utah state election officials and working with Hurricane’s civic leaders during their request to hold elections solo.
“I’m totally comfortable with the process,” he told the council. “I know much more about it than I did a year-and-a-half ago.”
At the end of the night, the council members voted to remain in their current agreement with Washington County due to the costs of running an election.
Utah Lt. Governor’s Office Director of Elections Ryan Cowley told St. George News in an email that Hurricane would need to comply with state regulations if they had voted to hold elections without the county’s assistance.
“The city recorder is the election officer for city elections and is responsible for ensuring the election is administered in accordance with Utah law,” Cowley stated. “Fun note, there are about 600 pages of Utah election laws.”
Due to the complexity of elections, most cities in Utah contract with their county clerk for expertise and “professional election management services,” Cowley added.
“In any case, whoever runs the election must ensure ballots are printed, mailed, collected, processed, counted, audited and certified in accordance with Utah law,” he said.
In an email sent to St. George News before the announcement of her resignation, Washington County Clerk/Auditor Susan Lewis defended the processes the state Legislature has set for elections.
“For several months, the City of Hurricane has been working with the Washington County Clerk/Auditor’s Office to explore options in administering their own municipal election,” she said. “We have explored many options. Every deviation from our current, tried and tested process involves the risk of inaccurate results.”
Joe-of-all-trades
Also on the night’s agenda, Hurricane leaders bid farewell to the city’s troubleshooter, Geographic Information Systems Coordinator Joe Rhodes. City Engineer Arthur LeBaron told those in attendance he will be hard pressed to find a replacement for the retiring Rhodes.
“Joe has what we call the knack,” he said of Rhodes’ ability to troubleshoot duties in all aspects of city administration regarding technology.
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