After months of campaigning, the 2014 election is officially in the books. Carbon and Emery county voters went to the polls on Tuesday to let their voices be heard by casting their votes.
Several highly contested races were decided in Carbon County including the sheriff and commissioner races. In the closest local race of the election, incumbent John Jones and Jake Mellor went head-to-head for the county commissioner/surveyor seat. According to preliminary results, Jones pulled out a three-vote upset over Mellor, 2,660 to 2,657. With absentee and provisional ballots still to be counted, this race could go either way. Final tallies will be recorded and made official Nov. 18.
Write-in candidate Rick Davis was disqualified from this race last week after failing to file a political financial disclosure prior to the state mandated deadline. All votes made in favor of Davis were not counted.
A second seat on the Carbon County Commission was also up for grabs during the Nov. 4 election. According to preliminary results, incumbent Jae Potter narrowly defeated Daniel Butler, 2,878 votes to 2,431. Potter will serve a four-year term as commissioner based upon these results.
Jeff Wood was elected by voters to represent Carbon County as sheriff. According to preliminary numbers, Wood received 3,111 votes. Tom Stefanoff finished the race with 1,754 votes while Tracy Allred received 829 votes.
Other Carbon County offices up for grabs during the 2014 election were recorder, assessor, treasurer, clerk/auditor and attorney. In the recorder race, Laurie Tryon received 2,860 votes to defeat incumbent Vikki Fossat Barnett who received 2,500 votes.
According to preliminary results, Kay Colosimo will serve as county treasurer. Colosimo received 3,460 votes while Thomas Jenson received 2,138 votes.
Incumbent Julie Medley was elected by voters to serve as Carbon County assessor. Medley received 3,182 votes while LaNell Denison received 2,378.
In uncontested races, Gene Strate will continue to serve as county attorney. Strate received 4,683 votes.
Current clerk/auditor Seth Oveson will also continue to serve Carbon County after receiving 4,588 votes.
State House District 69 will be represented by Brad King following a closely contested race against Bill Labrum. King received 5,183 votes and Labrum finished with 4,139 according to preliminary results.
In Carbon County School District races, Wayne Woodward received 872 votes and Chris Gravett finished with 379 in the fourth precinct race. In the fifth precinct, incumbent Lee McCourt was elected to the board with 699 votes while Ruby Cordova received 439 votes.
In Emery County, most candidates ran unopposed during the 2014 election. The lone exception was for the Emery County Commissioner A seat in which incumbent JR Nelson ran as a write-in candidate against Keith Brady. According to preliminary results, Brady won the race with 1,447 votes.
Paul Cowley will fill the Emery County Commissioner B seat after receiving 2,321 votes. Cowley ran unopposed this election season and will fill the seat vacated by current commissioner Jeff Horrocks.
Current Emery County Sheriff Greg Funk ran unopposed and will continue to serve the county as sheriff after receiving 2,399 votes. Kris Bell will also continue to serve the county as assessor after receiving 2,317 votes according to preliminary results, while Connie Jensen will serve as recorder with 2,384 votes.
Incumbents Steven Barton and Brenda Tuttle will continue to hold their positions in Emery County after running unopposed this election year. Barton received 2,395 votes and will remain county treasurer and Tuttle received 2,322 votes and will retain her seat as county clerk/auditor.
Mike Olsen was elected as Emery County Attorney with 2,277 votes. Olsen ran unopposed and will fill the seat which is currently held by David Blackwell.
Marie Guymon Johnson received 357 votes and will represent the Emery school board precinct four while Royd Hatt will represent precinct five after receiving 495 votes.
State elections and constitutional amendments were also voted on by local residents. For a list of these results, as well as a breakdown of local races, visit vote.utah.gov.
All results are preliminary at this time. Provisional and absentee ballots may continue to trickle in and will be counted before final results are released. These results will be available Nov. 18 and the outcome of closely contested races may change once these votes have been counted.
To view Carbon County election results, click on the following link: https://electionresults.utah.gov/elections/county/carbon
For Emery County results, please click here: https://electionresults.utah.gov/elections/county/emery