Special Notice to the Voters of Ogden's Ward 1

Two days remain to validate twelve Ward 1 provisional ballots

This morning we have a quick heads-up for the voters in Ogden City Ward 1. As everyone knows, council incumbent Jesse Garcia was narrowly edged out by Godfreyite challenger Neil Garner by a preliminary vote tally of 381-363, with 12 provisional ballots still remaining uncounted. With the slim existing margin of 18 votes, Councilman Garcia could force a mandatory full vote recount, if he can pick up at least 10 of the provisionals. In view of the comedy of errors reportedly occurring in the election counting room during the wee hours of Wednesday morning, common sense would demand a courtesy recount; but unfortunately The Law demands neither common sense nor courtesy.

If you are a Ward 1 voter who was issued a provisional ballot on election day, we'd like to remind each of you to get down to the City Recorder's office within the next two days, to furnish the recorder with proper proof of residency, in order to validate your provisional ballot. If you know another voter in Ward 1 who was issued a provisional ballot, please pass this information and reminder on to them.

These ballots will be tossed out uncounted on November 12, if the they're not properly validated prior to the November 12 deadline.

As one gentle reader remarked in one eye opening down-page article comment, "If Garner's lead holds, it's a sad day for the people of Ward 1 and for Ogden."

Yeah, we know its a long shot, with an 18 vote gap, and only 12 provisionals remaining uncounted. On the bright side, however, we'll note that there remain twelve Ward 1 voters who pack a heck of a lot of political clout at this juncture. These folks already made the effort to travel to their polling places to cast their votes; and we hope they'll also exert whatever extra effort is necessary to ensure that the ballots they cast are actually counted.