Five candidates filed on Tuesday alone. Heber City Recorder Trina Cooke said some of those filings came right down to the wire.
"We had three people come in the last hour," she said. "One was seriously like ten minutes before that deadline."
In all, 13 candidates will be vying for three at-large seats occupied by Ryan Stack, Rachel Kahler and Mike Johnston.
Stack and Kahler will not seek re-election. Johnston will, however, and he’ll be joined by Nick Lopez, Vaughn Eric Hokanson, Paul Royal III, Eric Carlson, Christen Thompson, Aaron Cheatwood, Sid Ostergaard, Casey Powers, Danny Hill, Tori Broughton, Jami Hewlett, and Alan Alborn.
"This is a large number of candidates for the three open seats," Cooke said. "I am hearing more and more across the state that this is not unusual any longer."
By comparison, in the 2021 race — which was the first race for the council decided by ranked choice voting — eight candidates filed for two seats on the council, though some dropped out by the time ballots went out.
Scott Phillips and Yvonne Barney won those seats, and both are serving in the middle of their first terms.
The race will be decided by ranked-choice voting and will not have a primary. The general election will be Nov. 21, and voting in Heber will be by mail-in ballot.
