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Election in Retrospect

Click to see original imageIt was an interesting election and as usual for a primary, the turnout was fairly light. In Utah County, an estimated 18.2 percent of the registered voters trekked to the po ls. The figure was slightly higher – nearly 20 percent – in Salt Lake County. It was difficult to figure a state-wide percentage since there were no contests involving voters in all counties. Any way you look at it, in the over-all picture the voting was apathetic, with 80 percent of the electorate turning the decisionmaking over to 20 percent. That isn’t good. The Second Congressional District battle between Edwin B. Firmage and Peter Cooke for t.he Democratic nomination was a real cliff-hanger, with Mr. Firmage out in front by a mere 390 votes. Mr. Cooke says he will demand a recount. Meantime, backers of both men will be awaiting eagerly the canvass of ballots next week. Mr. Firmage, a Univeristy of Utah law school professor, will face incumbent Congressman Dan Marriott in the Nov. 7 election if his primary victory holds up. He is a native of Provo. Focal point of interest in Utah County were the-two Republican contests for county commissioner nominations. Kenneth Pinagar. incumbent, turned back a determined bid by Cleve Child, a fellow Spanish Forker, to win the nomination for the four-year commissionership. In a battle of two newcomers in the county political arena, H. Jerry Bradshaw outdistanced E. Dee Olpin by 743 votes. The ballot was short this year, but featured some additional interesting contests. One of these saw Noall T. Wootton, incumbent county attorney, defeat a bid by one of his former deputies, Wayne B. Watson, for the GOP nomination. A headliner in the non-partisan category was the three-way race for two Utah State School Board nominations from District 7 comprising 14 counties. Dr. Ben F. Mortensen and Ross B. Denham, both of Provo, won the nominations in a close race, with the former leading, 10,262 to 9,844. They will face each other in the November election. Another Provoan, Dr. Reuben D. Law, will vacate the post on the state board with completion of his temi. Now is the time for voters to begin studying the ballot lineup for the November vote and doing their homework before determining how to vote. To assist with this, the Herald presents on Page 1 of today’s issue a lineup of candidates as they will appear on the ballot. We suggest you clip the list and refer to it requently. Returning to the Tuesday primary, we congratulate the winners on their victories at the polls. We commend the losers also for offering their services and for their campaign efforts to help get out the vote. Off-presidential election year votes seldom attract numbers of voters who cast ballots in F;-esidential races. Yet this year’s ovember election will feature numerous attractive races at the various levels. We suggest you commit yourself now to vote and begin now to get acquainted with the issues and candidates.