Real winners — Utah voters
Likewise for incumbents to the Utah Legislature, according to early results. Even those candidates who were heavily financed by school-choice advocates and literally deluged their respective districts with campaign literature and television advertisements were struggling in the early going Tuesday night. Most incumbents on the Salt Lake County Council appeared to be headed for re-election, too.
But controversy cost incumbent Salt Lake County Sheriff Aaron Kennard his job. Kennard, Salt County's top cop for 16 years, was ousted by one of his own deputies, Democrat Jim Winder. Kennard's re-election bid lost momentum after television reports showed he was spending a good deal of work time on the golf course. Kennard was unapologetic, noting that he is sheriff 24/7. In the eleventh hour, Kennard backers released heavily edited video of Winder in a training workshop, which portrayed him in an unflattering light. Voters apparently dismissed the move as a last-minute, desperation tactic.
Elsewhere, only minor problems were encountered and a good many people gave the new voting system a hearty thumbs up.
In Salt Lake County, voters gave themselves a pair of tax increases — a quarter-cent sales tax hike for TRAX expansion, right-of-way purchases and other road projects and a small property-tax increase to fund $48 million in open space and park purchases. In Utah County, early results suggested that voters also would approve a quarter-cent sales tax increase, primarily to pay for commuter rail construction. All three of these issues are quality-of-life issues, which will impact residents along the Wasatch Front for years to come.
Although actual voter turnout numbers were not available at press time, it bodes well that more than 70,000 people voted early in Utah, the first time it was allowed. This was due, in part, to the new electronic voting system, and interest in a number of issues. As for the overall performance of touch-screen voting and our take on final results, check back later this week.
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