Summit County disqualified at least 11 West Hills-area voters after an opponent of the proposed town challenged their eligibility.
That’s according to an appeal filed by five of the disqualified voters in 3rd District Court Oct. 30. The petitioners insist they live within the proposed town boundaries and that Interim Clerk Malena Stevens was wrong to deem them ineligible.
Only people who live within West Hills can vote Tuesday on whether to create the new town along state Route 248 between Kamas and Hideout.
Wasatch County resident Craig Savage filed the original voter challenges. He says numerous people registered to vote in West Hills actually live elsewhere.
Savage opposes the incorporation, which would be adjacent to his neighborhood of Tuhaye.
A sworn document he filed with the Summit County Clerk’s Office says many of the challenged voters registered to vote at the properties of pro-incorporation landowners.
That includes Vance and Page Checketts, who cosigned the pro-West Hills statement in the county’s voter information pamphlet.
They’re registered to vote at a property Savage says is undeveloped except for an RV.
The Checketts maintain they have lived in the RV under a lease that dates back to 2024, a year after the incorporation effort began.
Their court filing says they spent last winter at a home in Provo Canyon but plan to continue living part time at the West Hills property until they can build a permanent home there.
Three others filed to reinstate their voter eligibility: Bradley Barton Christensen, Derek Bradley Anderson and Olivia Jean Rodarte.
The six other disqualified voters had not filed an appeal as of Monday.
Derek Bradley Anderson is the son of West Hills incorporation sponsor, Derek E. Anderson. Bradley Anderson was registered to vote at one of his father’s two cabin properties in West Hills, as was his wife Rodarte.
Their court petition states they moved away to attend graduate school but remain legal Utah residents and should be allowed to vote.
As for Christensen, the petition says he helps manage and maintain the town sponsor’s cabins and lives in one of them.
According to Savage’s voter challenges, a total of nine voters were registered to vote at the sponsor’s properties as of August. Derek Anderson, the town sponsor, told KPCW the petitioners submitted their own evidence.
“Stevens has taken Mr. Savage’s word over all of it,” Anderson wrote in an email. “Either she applied the wrong standard or none at all.”
The clerk was not available for comment in time for this report; it will be updated.
Residents say the fight over incorporating a new town is partly a fight about future development.
West Hills supporters have advocated for “modest new growth,” and their pro-incorporation statement says Summit County’s zoning is unrealistic. One home per 80 acres is allowed right now.
The anti-incorporation statement, submitted by resident Tyler John Gough, says his neighbors can expect higher taxes and overburdened infrastructure if the town goes through.
Other voter challenges remain pending. Savage challenged five voters he says registered a couple months before the election, also at properties Derek Anderson owns.
The West Hills sponsor has responded with 12 of his own voter challenges, but it’s not clear the clerk’s office will accept them.
Stevens is expected to issue more decisions on voter eligibility after the Nov. 3 election. Contested ballots will be stored separately until final determinations are made and results are made official later in November.
