This was the first time Heber City voters have gone to the polls for a primary election since 2019; the city used ranked-choice voting in its 2021 and 2023 races.
About 3,000 Heber residents cast ballots in the primary Aug. 12, or roughly 30% of all registered voters in the city.
Numbers in this story are based on preliminary results released by the county clerk’s office late Tuesday night.
Incumbent Mayor Heidi Franco and Councilmember Scott Phillips dominated the mayoral primary Tuesday. Preliminary results show Franco received just shy of 50% of ballots, or nearly 1,500 votes. Phillips got 43% of votes, almost 1,300. Mike Hewlett finished third in the race, with 7% of votes, and will not move on to the general election.
Franco enjoyed strong support in downtown Heber. She is running on a platform of preserving Heber’s way of life and protecting open space. Residents near Muirfield Park, who live along the southern edge of the North Fields, overwhelmingly backed Franco. She won 64% of the vote in that precinct.
Franco also got 64% of the vote in precinct 103, a neighborhood in the northeast area of downtown. She lives in the Valley Hills area, where she got half the votes.
Councilmember Scott Phillips did best in the Wheeler Park neighborhood south of downtown, where he got 58% of the vote. Fifty-six percent of Red Ledges residents supported Phillips, who lives in that neighborhood.
He is running to advocate for attainable housing and responsible growth.
Franco and Phillips were exactly tied in precinct 207, a downtown neighborhood near Wasatch High School.
Those two mayoral candidates now head to the general election Nov. 4.
In the race for Heber City Council, incumbent Yvonne Barney commanded the field of eight candidates with over 23% of ballots cast in her favor – nearly 1,300 votes.
Morgan Murdock and Nick Lopez were within 20 votes of one another. Each received about 17% of votes, over 900 ballots.
Rounding out the top four in the race is Corey Noyes. He got over 11% of the vote, with over 600 people supporting him.
Those four will appear on the general election ballot in November, and two will make it onto the council. Ken Davis, Christen Thompson, Lori Rutland and Jami Hewlett are eliminated from the race.
As of midday Wednesday, the clerk had about 150 provisional ballots or ballots with minor technical errors left to count.
The results of the primary election will be certified Aug. 26 at 4 p.m. in the Heber City Council chambers.
