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Craig voters elect new mayor, city council members

Joe Bird, right, and Terry Carwile, left, congratulate each other as Ray Beck, center, looks on Tuesday night at the Moffat County Courthouse. Bird and Beck were elected to the Craig City Council and Carwile was elected Craig mayor in Tuesday’s municipal election. The election included 51.9 percent participation from the city’s 3,152 active voters.
Brian Smith





Joe Bird, right, and Terry Carwile, left, congratulate each other as Ray Beck, center, looks on Tuesday night at the Moffat County Courthouse. Bird and Beck were elected to the Craig City Council and Carwile was elected Craig mayor in Tuesday’s municipal election. The election included 51.9 percent participation from the city’s 3,152 active voters.
Brian Smith

By the numbers:

Voter turnout in Craig municipal elections:

1993*

— 4,561 registered voters



— 2,182 voted, or 47.8 percent

1995*



— 5,288 registered voters

— 2,266 voted, or 42.8 percent

2005

— 5,334 registered voters

— 547 voted, or 10.2 percent

2007

— 5,134 registered voters

— 671 voted, or 13 percent

2009

— 5,635 registered voters

— 640 voted, or 11.3 percent

2011*

— 5,892 registered voters

— 1,638 voted, or 27.8 percent

*Mail-in ballots

RESULTS GO FINAL: Voting results from today’s Craig municipal election are now finalized and city voters have elected a new mayor and three city council members. Turnout was 51.9 percent in the all mail-in ballot.

The results, which were released at 7:27 p.m., are below:

Craig mayor candidates:

• Terry Carwile — 1,027 votes, or 63.63 percent

• Frank Moe — 587 votes, or 36.37 percent

Craig City Council candidates:

• Don Jones — 981 votes, or 21.05 percent

• Ray Beck — 943 votes, or 20.23 percent

• Joe Bird — 854 votes, or 18.32 percent

• Byron Willems — 822 votes, or 17.64 percent

• Tony Bohrer — 556 votes, or 11.93 percent

• Stephen Hinkemeyer — 505 votes, or 10.83 percent

Visit http://www.craigdailypress.com throughout the night for more coverage of the city’s election.


VOTER TURNOUT UPDATE: More than 50 percent of the residents who received a ballot to vote in this year’s municipal election have returned them to election officials.

Stephanie Beckett, Moffat County elections supervisor, reported late this afternoon that election officials have received 1,593 of the 3,152 ballots sent to city voters, breaking the 50-percent return rate.

She said her staff will check the U.S. Post Office for ballots at about 4:30 p.m. today to pick up any last-minute mailings.

Things have slowed down in the elections office and Beckett doesn’t expect more than a few ballots to trickle in before tonight’s deadline, she said.

All ballots are due by 7 p.m. today at Craig City Hall, 300 W. Fourth St., or the Moffat County Courthouse, 221 W. Victory Way.

Results from the election will be posted at http://www.craigdailypress.com as soon as they are made available.


VOTER TURNOUT UPDATE: Stephanie Beckett, Moffat County elections supervisor, reported this afternoon that voter participation in today’s Craig municipal election now stands at 49 percent.

Beckett said election officials have received 1,543 of the 3,152 ballots sent to city voters. As of this afternoon, Beckett said she is still waiting on about 40 ballots from the city. The 40 ballots are not included in the 1,543 ballots received so far.

All ballots are due by 7 p.m. today at Craig City Hall, 300 W. Fourth St., or the Moffat County Courthouse, 221 W. Victory Way.

Results from the election will be posted at http://www.craigdailypress.com as soon as they are made available.


More than 46 percent of the ballots mailed out to Craig voters for Tuesday’s municipal election have been returned to election officials.

Moffat County Elections Supervisor Stephanie Beckett said 1,473 of the 3,151 ballots mailed out to active voters have been returned to the clerk’s office, as of this afternoon. The voter turnout is the best the city has had since 1995 when it last conducted a mail-in ballot election.

Beckett said most of the ballots were returned three or four days after they were mailed.

“I had a ton come back in the mail and a ton of people come in and drop them off,” she said. “It seemed like it was right away — they got them, voted them and returned them.

“I think people were ready to get the ballots, knew who they were going to vote for, and didn’t put it off because then you forget and misplace the ballot or something.”

City clerk Shirley Seely said she was pleased with the return rate so far.

“I still hope that people, if they haven’t voted, go ahead and vote today or (Tuesday),” she said. “But, it is already twice what we had the last time. I think that was a good thing.”

Seely advised residents who have not returned their ballots not to mail them, but rather drop them off at the Moffat County Courthouse, 221 W. Victory Way, or Craig City Hall, 300 W. Fourth St.

Ballots must be returned to election officials no later than 7 p.m. Tuesday.

“Because of the way the mail goes, it goes to Glenwood (Springs) for sorting first and maybe it would get back, but I wouldn’t take a chance,” she said.

Beckett said the number of residents requesting ballots has dropped in recent days, but the number of residents dropping off their ballots has gone up.

“The majority of the citizens appreciate getting it mailed to them,” she said. “There are already a lot of voters signed up to receive a mail ballot already anyway and kind of expect it. I haven’t had hardly anybody complain that it was a process that maybe the city shouldn’t have gone with.”

There are two candidates running for mayor and six candidates running for three city council seats in Tuesday’s election.

City council member Terry Carwile and former Moffat County Commission candidate Frank Moe are the two mayoral candidates.

Joe Bird, Stephen Hinkemeyer and Tony Bohrer join incumbent council members Ray Beck and Byron Willems and term-limited Mayor Don Jones as the six city council candidates.

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