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09-03-08 Release: Preliminary returns reported in mayor and council races
Sept. 3, 2008/Updated for Web Sept. 4
Contact: Pat Dodds, Public Affairs Officer, (480) 312-2336
or Mike Phillips, Media Relations Manager, (480) 312-7825
Preliminary results show Jim Lane ahead in mayor’s race;
final numbers not expected until weekend
Preliminary election returns are being updated as the Maricopa County Elections Office proceeds with counts of additional ballots. Please check the City Clerk's elections results page for the latest updates of returns.
Councilman Jim Lane, with 14, 909 votes, was leading incumbent Mayor Mary Manross, with 14,692 votes, in the Scottsdale mayor’s race late Tuesday evening, but the official outcome of that race and an eight-way race for three City Council seats will not be determined until late this week.
The preliminary totals in the council race, as of Tuesday night, are shown below.
A key unknown is the total number of ballots cast by Scottsdale voters. If a mayoral or council candidate receives a number of votes greater than the majority of ballots cast, the candidate is elected outright and skips a Nov. 4 runoff election.
However, because of the options built into Arizona’s early voting system, the Maricopa County Elections Office will not know until this weekend the exact total of ballots cast in the Scottsdale election or the final tally of the votes.
Until that number is official, the city can’t say with certainty whether the mayor’s race was decided Tuesday or will head to the Nov. 4 runoff. Based on preliminary counts, it appears that no City Council candidate was elected and the six top vote-getters will likely go to the runoff election.
The delays in final numbers stem, in part, from early voting alternatives. Voters who cast early ballots could mail them in or wait until election day to drop them off at the polls. The ballots mailed in on time are counted immediately, but those dropped at the polls can’t be counted until Maricopa County elections workers process them later this week, matching signatures to verify their authenticity. As a result, the county has no way of knowing immediately how many of these “late early” ballots were turned in at the polls.
As of Aug. 23, a total of 46,346 early ballots had been mailed out to Scottsdale voters, but initial returns reported by the county on Tuesday evening indicated that fewer than 22,000 early ballots had been counted for the two mayoral candidates listed on the ballot. Votes for write-in candidate Bill Crawford also had not been counted.
The early results also do not include provisional or contested ballots.
The county was expected to release final official results after 5 p.m. on Friday. Latest word, as of Thursday, is that results will not be available until sometime during the weekend.
Once those numbers are in, the top two voter-getters for each unfilled seat in the council election will advance to the runoff.
Likewise, if no mayoral candidate wins votes equal to a majority of the ballots cast, the two top candidates will face off on Nov. 4.
Candidates seated in either the Sept. 2 or Nov. 4 elections will be sworn into office during the first City Council meeting of January 2009.
More information on the elections is available by visiting the City Clerk’s website at: www.scottsdaleaz.gov/elections.
Here’s a summary of preliminary election results. Please note that votes for write-in candidates will be processed later this week.
|
Mayoral candidates |
Total votes (unofficial) |
|
Jim Lane |
14,909 |
|
Mary Manross |
14,692 |
|
Bill Crawford (write-in) |
To be processed later this week |
|
City Council candidates |
Total votes (unofficial) |
|
Lisa Borowsky |
10,728 |
|
Joel BramOweth |
5,388 |
|
Oren Davis |
4,864 |
|
Betty Drake |
12,429 |
|
Tom Giller |
7,762 |
|
Suzanne Klapp |
11,828 |
|
Ron McCullagh |
13,141 |
|
Nan Nesvig |
7,831 |
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