And the winners are ... still up in the air

Vogel-Carpenter, Leis-Benjamin council races too close to call

By Matt Brabb
Mogollon Connection Editor
It was ladies night on Tuesday in Rim Country as Su Connell and Paty Henderson, running respectively for the Payson and Star Valley Town Councils, were far ahead of their male counterparts in local elections.

Connell attended the election result gathering at Diamond Point Shadows Restaurant in Star Valley as a gesture of good will.

“I’m here because all this feuding and fussing has got to stop,” she said, referring to the difficulties the two towns have had over the years.

Incoming Star Valley Councilor Henderson was equally gracious.

“I am just flattered to have the trust of the people of this town,” she said.

Incumbent Star Valley Mayor Bill Rappaport is comfortably ahead of challenger Randy White, and Payson Mayor Kenny Evans ran unopposed.

The preliminary results for mayoral and council elections were released Tuesday evening, and a few races were too close to call. Some 200 ballots remain to be counted in the Payson election, and an undetermined, but probably small number remain in Star Valley.

Ballots mailed in the last few days for the Star Valley election to the county seat in Globe have yet to be counted. They will be critical as incumbent councilor Vern Leis has a slim, 11 vote lead over challenger Chris Benjamin according to preliminary results.
There is a stark contrast between Benjamin and Leis regarding how best to execute the ongoing negotiations over water rights with the town of Payson. Both would appear to be polarizing figures in the debate; and the candidate who ultimately wins the final council seat is likely to shape the direction of the discussion going forward.

Approximately 400 votes were cast in Star Valley. Rappaport leads White by a margin of 235 to 158. In the race for town council, in which voters were allowed to vote for three of the four candidates running, Henderson leads with 282, followed by Del Newland with 248. Leis tallied 220, while Benjamin trailed with 209.

In the Payson election there was an equally close race between the final two candidates vying for the last available seat on the council. Again, four candidates were running for three seats, and former Payson Town Manager Fred Carpenter has a razor thin 23-vote lead over incumbent Mike Vogel for the final seat.

Connell has a commanding 300 vote lead over Vogel, and Ed Blair leads him by 86 votes. Both margins will be statistically very difficult, if not impossible to overcome with only a couple hundred votes remaining to be counted.

It has been however, an exceptionally close race. All four candidates were voted for on over 50 percent of the ballots received, which negates the possibility of a run off. Connell was voted for on 64 percent of the ballots, Blair 60 percent, and Vogel and Carpenter were in a statistical dead heat at 58 percent.

In raw figures Connell received 3,178 votes, followed by Blair with 2,964. Carpenter garnered 2,901, a mere 23 votes ahead of Vogel at 2,878. A scanty 86 votes separate the three candidates who trail Connell by a substantial margin.

In Payson, Proposition 300, otherwise know as Home Rule was approved by voters by a wide margin, 3,551 to 736. The measure will allow the town to disregard an archaic, state mandated budget formula that would have forced the town to make drastic cuts to basic town services including public safety and water.

In addition, voters overwhelmingly approved the Payson school override by 67 percent. The final count was 3,954 to 1,897.

(See complete election results and photos below.)