Turnout is light, but voters elect many new faces

    There will be a lot of new faces at city halls in Price, Helper and East Carbon after Tuesday’s General Election. Michael Kourianos will be the new mayor of Price with a win over Rick Adams, 966-579.
    Lenise Peterman scored a historic victory in Helper by handily defeating incumbent Ed Chavez, 340-164, to become the city’s first female mayor.
     Harry C. Goslin Jr. will take the helm in East Carbon City after out-polling incumbent Mayor Doug Parsons, 254-117.
‘Every vote matters’
    Four candidates were running for two Price City Council seats. One race was too close to call. According to the unofficial results from the Carbon County Clerk’s Office, Amy Knott-Jespersen had a one-vote lead over Joe Christman. The preliminary tally shows Knott-Jespersen with 726 votes and Christman with 725.
    County Clerk Seth Oveson noted, there may be some outstanding ballots yet to be counted. He said there were 20 provisional ballots that are being examined and there could be some mail-in ballots that come between now and the canvass of the election on Tuesday, November 14.
    “This is a classic case of every vote matters,” Oveson stated. He said there could be a recount, and in the event of a tie, the race will be determined by lot within five days of the canvass. He said it would be done, “by whatever method of chance the candidates agree on.”
    Price City Council member Terry Willis received 760 votes to retain her seat, and Jesse Sloan finished fourth with 470.
    In Helper, Malarie Matsuda and Donna Archuleta won city council seats. Matsuda got 315 votes, the top vote-getter of the four candidates for two seats, and Archuleta had 246. While both are newcomers to elected office, they have both, like Mayor-elect Peterman, been active in civic affairs. Long-time Councilman Gary Harwood tallied 204 votes and hopeful Tim Riley got got 188.
    With 506 ballots cast out of 1131 eligible voters, Helper had the highest turnout of the county’s four incorporated municipalities, with a 44.7 percent turnout. Price had 37.7 percent, Wellington had 34.6 percent and East Carbon posted 44.2 percent. Scofield showed a 75.7 percent turnout, with 28 of 37 elegible voters casting ballots.
    Incumbent Wellington Mayor Joan Powell was reelected with 142 votes in a race that produced 115 write-in ballots. Kirt Tatton retained his city council seat running unopposed.
    In East Carbon City, Larry Wood topped the field with 216 votes to win a seat on the city council, as did Donald L. McCarty II with 198. Karla C. Young finished with 173 and Philip Holt tallied 130 votes.
    Incumbent Scofield Mayor Mike Erkkila retained office with a 22-6 win over Ron Richmond. The race for city council in Scofield resulted in a tie. Scott H. Deem and Barbara E. Leek each finished with 18 votes, but they led the field to win the two available council seats. Scott Holman garnered 10 votes, and Paul Helsten received 7.
    In the race for U.S. Representative, Carbon County favored Republican John Curtis with 1,655 votes over Democrat Kathie Allen who tallied 1,302. The new United Utah Party candidate Jim Bennett was a distant third with 298 votes. Curtis won the overall race in the Third Congressional District by a wide margin.
    Voter turnout in Carbon County was 32.72 percent.