Race for Summit County Council Seat C heats up with more votes counted

Democrat Megan McKenna maintained a strong lead over Republican Ari Ioannides in the early days after the general election, but the margin in the race for Seat C on the Summit County Council narrowed to about 1% as of Wednesday.

Preliminary results released by the Summit County Clerk’s Office midweek showed 278 votes separating candidates with in-person early votes and those cast on Election Day now processed.

McKenna was on track to take Seat C with a more than 5% lead last week and strong support from the Park City and Snyderville Basin areas.

However, Ioannides was the standout candidate among eastern Summit County voters, many of whom are Republicans and lean toward in-person voting.

The Secretariat has around 700 ballots left to process. That means Ioannides is likely to gain the ground needed to win. Summit County Clerk Eve Furse is committed to having all votes processed through canvassing on November 19. That’s when the results would become official.

Under Utah law, a recount is mandatory if the margin of victory is less than or equal to 0.25% of the total votes cast.

McKenna never claimed victory, instead wanting to wait until the Clerk’s Office finished counting the ballots.

Ioannides spoke with the Democrat on Friday afternoon to acknowledge that she was far ahead at the time. He acknowledged he had an uphill battle as a Republican in a predominantly Democratic county, although new votes counted indicate he still has a chance.

This is a developing article. It will be updated.