CEDAR CITY — Iron County’s municipal primary elections on Tuesday saw one candidate eliminated from Cedar City Council races and four eliminated from the Parowan City Council races, leaving six candidates in each city who will advance to the November general election ballot.
Iron County Clerk Jon Whittaker sent out another unofficial summary via email to news outlets on Thursday afternoon, just as he had done on both of the previous two days. The only races that changed in terms of order of finish were in Parowan, where David Burton pulled into a second-place tie with fellow incumbent Jim Shurtleff, and where Jessica Smith and David Harris both moved ahead of Matthew Gale, who nevertheless staved off elimination by capturing the sixth and final spot.
Following are the totals for Parowan City Council primary race, as updated on Thursday. The bottom four candidates have been eliminated from contention:
Parowan City Council (three open seats)
- John Dean 449 (15.85%)
- (tie) Jim Shurtleff 410 (14.48%)
- (tie) David M. Burton 410 (14.48%)
- Jessica Smith 351 (12.39%)
- David M. Harris 345 (12.18%)
- Matthew Gale 312 (11.02%)
- Vickie L. Hicks 178 (6.29%) – eliminated
- Larraine Evans Clayton 145 (5.12%) – eliminated
- Ronald V. Clayton 123 (4.34%) – eliminated
- Debra Slotboom 109 (3.85%) – eliminated
According to Thursday’s figures, a total of 1,109 ballots were cast in Parowan (voters could pick up to three candidates on their ballot), out of 1879 registered voters, for an overall turnout of 54.23%.
Meanwhile, in the Cedar City Council primary, there have been no changes in position since the initial results were announced Tuesday evening. Cedar City Councilman Tyler Melling, the only incumbent running for re-election, has garnered the most votes with 2,498.
Cedar City Council (three open seats)
- W. Tyler Melling 2,498 (20.94%)
- Robert S. Cox 2,259 (18.946%)
- Carter Wilkey 1,790 (15.01%)
- Brittany Fisher 1,633 (13.69%)
- Mark Mumford 1,594 (13.36%)
- Kathy Long, 1,240 (10.39%)
- Sara Ridgel, 915 (7.67%) – eliminated
Cedar City’s overall turnout as of Thursday stood at just 29.33%, or 4,680 ballots cast out of 15,957 registered voters.
Whittaker said on Thursday that he and his staff will continue processing and counting any additional ballots as they arrive in the mail, but he added that the overall outcomes of the races are unlikely to change between now and the final official canvass on Sept. 19.
Meanwhile, in the Republican primary to replace outgoing Rep. Chris Stewart in Utah’s 2nd Congressional District, winner Celeste Maloy’s strong support throughout Southern Utah was more than enough to tip the race in her favor. Official results as of Thursday night show Maloy with 38.55% of the overall vote and Edwards with 33.41%, with Bruce Hough receiving the remaining 28.04%.
In terms of total number of votes received, Maloy’s overall total of 34,306 as of Thursday evening is 4,569 more votes than Edwards’s tally of 29,737. Maloy, who lives in Cedar City, won by large margins in each of the Southern Utah counties in the district. In Washington County alone, Maloy defeated Edwards by more than 7,000 votes.
Maloy’s GOP primary victory advances her to the Nov. 21 general election ballot, where she’ll be up against Democratic State Sen. Kathleen Riebe, along with five other independent candidates. Stewart is scheduled to resign his Congressional seat next week.
Also on Iron County’s November ballot will be the town council races for Brian Head, Paragonah and Kanarraville. Each of those towns has as many candidates running as it has open council seats, so those races are considered uncontested.
In Enoch City, however, there are five candidates running for three open seats. Incumbents David Harris, West Harris and Shawn Stoor are all seeking re-election; they are facing challengers Debra Lay and Brandon Cox.
Iron County voters are also likely to see two bond proposals on the November ballot, as both Iron County School District and Iron County Commission have indicated they will seek the public’s approval to issue general obligation bonds. The school board has indicated it plans to seek $75.5 million for two new schools and other major infrastructure projects, while the county commission is seeking nearly $90 million in bonds to help fund a new jail and sheriff’s complex.
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