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Candidate disputes mayoral race results January 23, 2018, 1:43 pmAccording to a letter sent to the town and delivered by a sheriff's deputy (which a post on the town website said was not an "official delivery"), Berry is disputing the results "based on controversial issues with the election." In the most recently updated results (final results are not available until November 21), Berry received 80 votes while David T. Gustin, who is currently a town council member, received 87 votes. As of November 14, Berry had not contacted the Lt. governor's office, according to Mark Thomas, director of elections for the Lt. Governor. Thomas said his office had received an email from an individual (not Berry) who, he said, was concerned about whether the provisional ballots had been appropriately counted or disqualified, concerned about the chain of custody of the ballots, and over the fact that election results were released the night after the election, not election night. Thomas said his office was also contacted by Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Keith Squires regarding the same allegations from that individual who had also contacted Squires. Thomas said in regards to the request for an independent recount that if Berry were to request it of his office, "there really is not a process in statute for that." Instead, Thomas said Berry would need to go to court to contest the election. Thomas said to "facilitate the dialogue" his office is talking to town officials about the allegations. "We're just trying to put some pieces together and see if we can help at all," he said. Berry's opponent Gustin said while he doesn't "know that there a legal basis to challenge the results, I'm not opposed to doing whatever it takes to ensure the confidence of the voters in the outcome." "I don't think a recount — by the elections committee or the lieutenant governor's office — will yield any different results, " he added. "I have full faith and confidence in the integrity and the competence of our election committee." In January, Gustin was appointed to fill the town council seat of Larry Mohler who moved out of the area. The remainder of Mohler/Gustin's two-year council term will be filled by Harry Draper who ran unopposed and received 133 votes. Berry did not return calls for comment for this story. The community news source for Eagle Mountain Utah, Saratoga Springs Utah, Lehi Utah, American Fork Utah, Highland Utah, Alpine Utah, and The Cedar Valley, including Cedar Fort Utah and Fairfield Utah. Copyright 2024 The Crossroads Journal LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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