Candidates for elections in cities opting to do Salt Lake County’s first-ever ranked-choice voting pilot have officially declared their candidacy.
In ranked-choice elections, voters are presented with more than two candidates for each office. They sort the list based on their order of preference. The Utah Legislature passed a bill this year that allowed more municipalities to try this novel system of voting, and 23 cities opted in, including 10 in Salt Lake County.
Those cities skipped the primary this year, and the filing deadline for candidates was Tuesday. The result: some crowded races for offices like mayor and city councils. Sandy has a whopping 13 candidates vying for mayor, and Salt Lake City, Utah’s capital, has five City Council seats up for election. Riverton, meanwhile, won’t get to participate in a ranked-choice election this year, because no candidates filed to challenge the city’s incumbents.
Write-in candidates can still file until 5 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 30.
Here’s the list of ranked-choice candidates by city, as reported by the Salt Lake County Clerk’s Office.
Bluffdale
Mayor • Two candidates filed for mayor, John Roberts and Natalie Hall, which negates the need for voters to rank their choice. The city’s current mayor, Derk Timothy, is not seeking reelection.
City Council • Blain Dietrich, incumbent Wendy W. Aston, Connie Robbins, Tammy L. Rasmussen and incumbent Traci Crocket are running for two at-large seats.
Cottonwood Heights
Mayor • Maile Evans, Eric Kraan, Mike Weichers, Ed Schwartz and Timothy Hallbeck are running to replace Mayor Michael Peterson, who is not seeking reelection.
City Council • Runar E. Bowman, Shawn E. Newell, David Rawlings, Mike Hanson and Jackie Hibbard filed to represent District 3. Councilwoman Tali Bruce did not declare her candidacy for reelection in this district. Ernie Kim, Lee Anne Walker and Ellen Birrell filed to represent District 4. Councilwoman Christine Mikell did not file for reelection for her District 4 seat.
Draper
Mayor • No candidates filed to challenge Mayor Troy K. Walker.
City Council • Will Ashby, Danita Rouzer, Russ Fugal, Rachelle Farley, Hubert Huh, incumbent Mike Green and incumbent Tasha Lowery are running to fill two at-large seats.
Magna
Metro Township Council • Incumbent Brint D. Peel, Eric G. Barney and Paris Ramos are running to represent District 2. No candidates filed to challenge Trish Hull in District 4.
Midvale
Mayor: Marcus Stevenson, Wayne B. Staker and Amanda Hollingsworth filed to challenge Mayor Robert M. Hale.
City Council • No candidates filed to challenge the current council member for District 4, Bryant S. Brown. Two candidates filed in District 5, Wayne Sharp and incumbent Dustin Gettel.
Millcreek
City Council • Thom Desirant, Angel Vice and Jeremiah Clark filed to replace outgoing Councilman Dwight Merchant, representing District 2. Incumbent Bev Uipi, Rex Williams and Beverly Boyce filed to represent District 4.
Riverton
Mayor • No candidates filed to challenge Mayor Trent Staggs.
City Council • No candidates filed to challenge Councilwoman Tawnee McCay in District 3 or Councilwoman Tish Buroker in District 4.
Salt Lake City
City Council District 1 • Blake Perez, Victoria Petro-Eschler and Richard D.M. Barnes filed to replace outgoing Councilman James Rogers, representing the city’s northwest area.
City Council District 2 • Alejandro “Ale” Puy, Billy Palmer, Nigel Swaby, Dennis Faris and Daniel Tuutau filed represent west-side neighborhoods like Poplar Grove and Glendale. The City Council appointed Faris to fill this district seat in May after Andrew Johnston left the position to become the city’s homeless outreach director. This election is to fill the remaining two years of Johnston’s term.
City Council District 3 • Incumbent Chris Wharton, David Berg and Casey O’Brien McDonough filed to represent neighborhoods like the Avenues, Capitol Hill and Federal Heights.
City Council District 5 • Sarah Reale, George Chapman, Darin Mano, Amy J. Hawkins and Vance Hansen filed to represent neighborhoods like Ballpark and East Liberty Park. The City Council appointed Mano in January 2020 to replace Erin Mendenhall after she was elected mayor.
City Council District 7 • Ben Raskin, incumbent Amy Fowler and Rainer Huck have filed to represent the Sugar House area.
Sandy
Mayor • Councilwoman Monica Zoltanski, Mark E. Whiting, Jim Bennett, Councilwoman Kris Nicholl, Mike Applegarth, Linda Saville, Donna Jensen, Roger D. Jensen, Patricia W. Jones, Ronald T. Jones, Zea Colley, Councilwoman Brooke Christensen and Councilwoman Marci Houseman are running to replace Mayor Kurt Bradburn, who is not seeking reelection.
City Council • Katie Johnson, Jeffory Mulcahy and Ryan Mecham are running to represent District 1, a seat being vacated by Brooke Christensen as she runs for mayor. Jim Edwards, Zach Robinson, Bekah Craig and Zachary A. Christensen are running to represent District 3, vacated by Kris Nicholl as she runs for mayor. Kristen Wray, Aaron Dekeyzer, Brooke D’Sousa, Rebecca Colley, Steven Calbert and Evan Tobin are running for an at-large seat.
South Salt Lake
Mayor • L. Shane Siwik and Jake Christensen filed to challenge Mayor Cherie Wood.
City Council • No ranked-choice selections are necessary for City Council, because only two candidates filed for each open position. Clarissa J. Williams and Olivia Spencer are running for an at-large seat. Sam Garfield is challenging incumbent Corey Thomas in District 2, and Aileen E. Hampton is challenging incumbent Sharla Bynum in District 3.
