Half who bothered to vote chose status quo

Editorial
By Matt Brabb
Mogollon Connection Editor

Another election cycle has come and gone in Rim Country. The people have spoken, and for the most part they have decided in favor of the status quo.

Not that they had much choice. In Payson, three incumbents and one former town manager ran for seats on the council. Mayor Kenny Evans ran unopposed. In Star Valley, as in Payson, four candidates ran for three seats on the town council. Two incumbents and one newcomer were elected. There will be only one new face among the seven members on each council for the next two years.

Bill Rappaport, who was the vice-mayor in Star Valley and inherited the job when former mayor Chuck Herron resigned, was re-elected by a significant margin over challenger Randy White.

In both towns, voters were allowed to vote for their top three choices of four candidates running for town council. Many voters in Payson apparently grasped the fact that to get the most out of their vote, it was best to vote for only the candidate that they most wanted to see elected. After all, when a voter votes for three candidates but only strongly supports one, he or she is, in effect, voting once for that candidate, and twice against him or her. It appears that in the Payson election some 3,000 people recognized this, and voted for only one candidate. A similar percentage voted for only one candidate in Star Valley.

Not that too many people bothered to vote at all. In Star Valley only 44 percent of eligible voters could be troubled to cast a vote. In Payson the figure was higher, but still only roughly 55 percent. Taking both percentages into account, only about half of registered voters took the time to take part in Rim Country elections this year.

And it’s not like it’s all that difficult to participate in the process. It’s not like voters actually have to go to the polls. Citizens in both towns are mailed their ballots. It isn’t actually necessary to leave the comforts of home to vote. A walk to the mailbox, a walk back.

It’s too bad, because in this election there were some tight races. In Payson, former town manager Fred Carpenter defeated incumbent Mike Vogel by 23 votes for a seat on the town council. An extremely close race, especially when you consider that 4,181 registered voters in Payson chose not to participate. To be sure, Mayor Evans has a comfortable majority on the council, and his agenda will be supported by the greater part of the council despite Vogel’s defeat.

But in Star Valley it is different. Vern Leis defeated Chris Benjamin for the final council seat by 27 votes. More than half of the eligible voters in Star Valley didn’t vote, 759 to be exact. And in this case, the result is likely to have a significant impact on future water negotiations between Payson and Star Valley.

Benjamin has been at the center of the dispute since the beginning. He has been involved in litigation regarding the matter, and has a good working relationship with the hydrology firm that has served the town of Star Valley since incorporation. Few people in Star Valley are more knowledgeable about the technical minutiae regarding the town’s water supply.

Leis is a relative newcomer to the dispute, but he has worked hard in the past year to find common ground with officials from Payson to come up with an intergovernmental agreement to satisfy the wishes of both towns.

The future of Star Valley has been largely shaped, for better or worse, by a matter of 27 votes. One hopes that the 759 residents of Star Valley who chose not to participate won’t regret their decision.