Utah Town Forgets To Hold Municipal Election
For the second election cycle in a row, a small Utah town has forgotten to hold municipal elections:
SALT LAKE CITY – A tiny Utah town had to skip an election earlier this month because part-time officials forgot to advertise or prepare for it — and it wasn’t their first election flub.
Wallsburg, population 275 in the Wasatch Mountains 40 miles from Salt Lake City, failed to schedule an election two years ago, and city officials had to be appointed then.
They were supposed to go up for election Nov. 5, but once again, Wallsburg forgot to get things going, according to Wasatch County officials. The Salt Lake Tribune first reported on the missed election.
“They didn’t advertise” to draw candidates out of the woodwork and “they just went on without doing anything,” County Clerk Brent Titcomb said Wednesday. “Close to the election day, they called to ask what they should do.”
The leaders of Wallsburg were told by state elections officials to keep serving until an election can be held in two years.
“We will remember them in 2015,” Titcomb said. “They will definitely have an election in 2015.”
This is the best town ever. For this, I’d live in Utah.
So, you can get elected to a town council and then just “forget” to ever hold elections in the future and stay in power?
275 people? Why are they incorporated?
They should be a part of their county government system.
Obviously the officials were too busy working on the healthcare.gov web site…
@al-Ameda: Oh, that’s nothing, Port Royal, Virginia, an incorporated town, has a population of 126.
@Timothy Watson:
Wow. For many hamlets the incorporation goes back a long way. It is probably a matter of local control – people in those very small cities do not want to be governed by a possibly remote and unresponsive county government.
These days, here in CA, many people in small rural outposts do not want to incorporate because they are often under the impression that their taxes will go up.
@Timothy Watson:
Urbana Texas, population 10 (and one liquor store).
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hnu05
This is your vaunted small government. Cherish it.
In related news, Doug Mataconis, lawyer, blogger, libertarian, has been spotted driving west.
My first reading of the title was “Utopian Town Forgets To Hold Municipal Election”
Must have been one of those LSD flashbacks!
Maybe the Democrats in Congress could copy this. It may be their best chance to hold onto the Senate in 2014.
America: Cradle of democracy, or nation of sheep?
Should drag these dudes down to Lee County for a lesson in democracy. Family friend lost his election for town mayor some years back by two votes, 37 to 35.
He was running against a multiple-term incumbent, so obviously he was messaging well.