For the 300-odd voters in Charleston, the town that sits on the eastern shore of Deer Creek Reservoir, this year’s election is a nail-biter… again.
The race between mayoral candidate Jan Wilson and write-in challenger Doug Clements was neck-and-neck when the Wasatch County clerk released preliminary numbers late Tuesday night. Wilson had 86 votes and Clements had 85.
Town clerk Karen Mair has lived in Charleston her whole life, and she’s seen races this tight before, like back in 2017.
“I think it was 83 to 83,” she said. “It was an even split. And back then, they did a coin toss, and the mayor that we have going out now was the one that won the coin toss.”
That’s incumbent Mayor Brenda Christensen, who was eliminated from this year’s election in the August primary.
It’s not unheard of for a write-in candidate to make such a strong showing in Charleston, either. Mair said several years before the 2017 coin toss, a write-in candidate won the mayor's seat.
“I think the townspeople weren’t happy with the choices that they were given, and he was a previous mayor that was not going to run again,” she said. “He ended up being written in by the townspeople at that time to come ahead and win the mayor race.”
This year’s write-in candidate, Doug Clements, hasn’t served in government before, but he told KPCW he wants to protect residents’ interests and preserve Charleston’s small-town culture.
“I see people moving in and coming in from different cultures, trying to bring their culture to Charleston,” he said. “And, you know, Charleston’s its own culture. We’re just trying to keep it that way.”
Like the rest of the town, Clements said he’s anxiously waiting to see the final numbers.
“You think: what else could I have done to get one more vote?” he said. “You can second-guess yourself, I guess. But the cards will be dealt, and we’ll go from there.”
As of Wednesday morning, the county clerk had more than 400 ballots left to count. It’s not clear how many of those ballots could belong to Charleston voters.
Candidate Jan Wilson did not immediately respond to KPCW’s request for comment Wednesday.
About 75% of the town’s roughly 320 registered voters cast ballots in this year’s election, an unusually high turnout in Wasatch County, where overall voter turnout hovered around 48%.
Mair said Charleston had a strong showing at the polls because new leaders could bring big changes to the town.
“It’s a whole new dynamic,” she said. “Different opinions, different directions.”
Since there are fewer than 400 votes cast in Charleston, candidates can request a recount if the results remain just one vote apart when the clerk finishes processing ballots. If there’s a tie, Utah law says the winner will be determined by lot – like flipping a coin or pulling names out of a hat.
The town is also electing two councilmembers. Michael Bauer and Scott Solum were in the lead as of Wednesday morning.
Elsewhere in Wasatch County, small towns have had Election Day surprises in recent years: in Wallsburg, two write-in candidates defeated an incumbent town councilmember in 2023.
