In Utah County, the general election in November is pretty much a mere formality as far as state and county races are concerned. The only candidates with a chance are the Republican candidates, and there will only be one Republican on the ballot per office, so all you do by voting in November is either confirm a choice already made for you months earlier by Republican Party leaders, or cast a futile vote for someone from another party. Not much of a choice.
It’s better to make sure that whoever gets on the ballot in the first place is the person you want to be there. Make sure the best Republican candidate gets onto the ballot, because the real election—the only election that really determines who will take office—occurs well before November when the field of Republican candidates is narrowed down to one per office. That process occurs at the county convention, or in a subsequent primary election if a candidate isn’t selected at the convention.
My name is Paul Wake, and I am one of the Republican Party delegates who was chosen by my neighbors in Springville’s Hunter Valley area (Hobble Creek 12th and 14th Wards, mostly) during the neighborhood caucuses this winter. That means I will attend the county convention on April 29 and vote for which of the multiple candidates running for office I would like to see on the ballot in November. For example, there are multiple people running for state legislator, county commissioner, and county attorney. Each would like to get enough votes at the convention to be put on the ballot automatically in November; they know they would be guaranteed a victory in the general election. If they cannot get enough support at the convention to be a clear favorite, there would be a primary election between the convention and the general election, and all Republican voters would get a chance to pick who would be on the final ballot. As you can see, the most important time to be involved in this process is up front. Unfortunately, many people don’t understand the convention process, and many who want to participate, can’t. There are only so many seats available.
I am troubled by the way the convention process excludes voters from having a meaningful say in who will serve them in government. I commit to you that I will try to serve as a delegate in a representative capacity. Some of my neighbors have already made it clear how important public education is to them; half of the people attending my precinct’s neighborhood caucus thought the county platform was off base in this area. Given a choice between serving a party faction or serving you, I will serve you by supporting candidates who support public education. I also heard concern that our legislators have been unresponsive to citizens, and that has been my experience also. I will try my best to determine which candidates are most likely to return your calls and letters, and I will support those candidates. Ultimately, if an outstanding candidate emerges, I will vote for that candidate. However, as of the beginning of April I am uncommitted to anyone. Given my respect for democracy and for your own right to have a meaningful vote, if no clearly outstanding candidates emerge, I will do what I can do push selection out of convention and on to a primary election where you can chose directly who will be on the November ballot.
Because I want to represent my neighborhood, I am happy to hear from you. Feel free to call, or e-mail me at wake@xmission.com. If you cannot use e-mail software from your location, you could try this form.
Some offices only have one person running. However, House District 65, two of the County Commissioner seats, and the County Attorney, County Clerk/Auditor, and County Treasurer positions each have two or more candidates seeking office. Rather than try to be a clearinghouse for their information, I refer you to the County Clerk’s elections web site for links to their campaign web sites, their e-mail addresses, and so forth: http://www.utahcountyonline.org/Dept/ClerkAud/Elections/Candidates.asp.
Paul Wake
The county convention was interesting. In the week prior to the convention, the online blog for county delegates was repeatedly censored by the party moderator. At the end of the convention there were only two people who had questions about the nature of a proposed constitutional change, and party leaders would only let one of them speak. Not the most encouraging show of respect for democracy, but I suppose that for some, principle must give way to getting what one wants. The reduction to 60% of the percentage of votes necessary to avoid a primary allowed a few people to squeak by, winning at convention and thereby effectively winning and ending their campaigns in April. Aaron Tilton, who takes an education stand that half the people in our precinct’s neighborhood meeting opposed, and who awhile back ignored the local PTA group’s invition to speak to them, got 61% of the vote, has no Democratic opponent, and so will be reelected to the legislature on November 7 without you having a chance to vote for anyone else (his Republican challengers, Harold Mitchell and Carl Nielson, are both excellent men, and Republican voters have definitely been shortchanged by being deprived a choice to pick between these three in a primary election). With only a little over one hundred delegates in that legislative caucus, it would only have taken a very few people going a different way to allow democracy to flourish. Steve White got 62% of the vote and so will be reelected to the county commission without you having a chance to vote for one of the other Republican challengers, one of whom—Bill Ellis—was rapidly winning over Republican voters (there will be a Democratic opponent in the general election, but he isn’t a theat). Jerry Grover and Gary Anderson will go to a June 27 primary election for the other county commission seat (there is no Democratic running, so the primary will pick the ultimate winner—be sure to vote, and study this one out carefully). Jeff Buhman got enough votes to unseat the incumbent county attorney and to avoid a primary with either of his challengers, and since Buhman has no Democratic opponent, he will be the next county attorney without you having a chance to vote for one of the other Republican challengers; that was quite an upset. Robert Kirk avoided a primary election and will run unopposed. Cary McConnell and Bryan Thompson will have a primary election, so be sure to vote in that election (there is no Democratic opponent, so the primary will pick the county clerk/auditor).
Post-Primary Election Update: Gary Anderson and Bryan Thompson won in the primary elections.
Post-General Election Update:As area voters know, the general election was almost a spitting image of the old Soviet-style elections. Page after page of uncontested races, with voters having no more choice than rubber stamping what party hacks had already wrought. Only two partisan races were contested, and one nonpartisan race. The lady in front of me in line—who hadn’t been able to participate at the convention—was complaining about not being able to get rid of our incumbent state representative, and I felt for her. The vast majority of voters in our neighborhood had no voice in picking most of our leaders. It is sad to think that while we “voted,” soldiers abroad were giving their lives for democracy even as self-interested state party leaders here were celebrating having stripped the election of most of its meaning.