BRIGHAM CITY – In Box Elder County, only three municipalities were required by state law to host primary elections on Sept. 5.
They were Honeyville, Tremonton and Willard cities. Unofficial results of their balloting were released by county officials late in the evening on the primary election day.
In Honeyville, voters chose two candidates to compete for a two-year term on the city council in the general election of Nov. 21. They are Dustin Bingham, who captured 127 mail-in ballots of the 369 cast (34 percent) and David Forsgren, who earned 121 ballots (32 percent).
In the primary balloting, Honeyville voters eliminated the candidacies of L. Jeanne Cutler (23 percent) and Tom Edwards (6.5 percent).
In Tremonton, voters were faced with the choice of two incumbent city council members – Connie W. Archibald and Lyle C. Vance – and a field of five challengers.
A third council member whose seat is up for grabs — Rick Seamons – declined to seek re-election.
In early August, some residents of Tremonton told Jason Williams of KVNU Radio that they are unhappy with the city government and hoped to use the electoral process to seek changes.
Williams was invited to moderate a candidate meet and greet organized by Tremonton resident Kristy Bowcut on Aug. 9.
During that gathering, some residents listed their concerns as rising taxes, a lack of transparency, the pace of growth and a lack of communication with council members.
Archibald and Vance chose to boycott that meeting.
In the balloting on Sept. 5, Tremonton voters rejected the candidacy of RJ Henry, who won only 66 votes (2 percent of 2,670 valid mail-in ballots cast).
Candidates still in the running for the three council seats in the general election on Nov. 21 are Blair Westergard with 584 votes (21 percent); Archibald with 469 votes (17 percent); Vance with 468 votes (also 17 percent); Jeffrey N. Hoedt with 421 votes (15 percent); Sara Mohrman with 362 votes (13 percent); and Paul Fowler with 300 votes (11 percent).
In Willard, 10 candidates were vying for three seats on the city council. Incumbent council member Fred Ward is not seeking re-election.
The voting there on Sept. 5 left six candidates still in contention for those seats.
They are Jordan Davis Hulsey with 228 votes (16 percent of the 1,379 valid mail-in ballots cast); Rex Tom Christensen with 217 votes (15 percent); incumbent council member John R. Seamons with 198 votes (14 percent); Jacob Bodily with 197 votes (also 14 percent); Kenneth Braegger with 176 votes (12 percent); and Chad Braegger with 175 votes (also 12 percent).
Willard voters eliminated the candidacies of incumbent council member Kaleb Kunzler, Todd L. Richards, Rich Kunka and Peter David Rona, all with vote percentages in low single-digits.
In unofficial results, voter turn-out in Box Elder County was estimated at 27.73 percent.