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Show Experience wins in primary election I . :: -i i 1 1 I J " ."--v ;v ' " i . 4 s ' 1 ' 1 ! i Maintaining a near three-fifths margin in Utah County, Howard Nielson readily won the race against Ray Beckham for the new U.S. Third District Congressional seat. It had been predicted the tally would be much closer than it was when voters went to the polls in drizzly weather Tuesday. In Utah County as the district reports continued to come in, the ratio didn't change much and Nielson ended up with a total vote count of 17,128 to Beckham's 12,661. The votes collected by Nielson represent 57.50 percent of the total in the 270 districts. There was some feeling among those gathered in the county building watching the computer readouts that the thing which turned the tide for Nielson was the newspaper ad by Howard Ruff disclaiming Nielson. Ray Beckham had been accused of being behind the ad. Whether Ruff's intentions backfired or he was actually serving a backhand in Nielson's court, some seem to think the ad tilted the poll results in the county to Nielson's advantage. In a mid-tally interview, Nielson said he had felt if he could split the vote in Utah County, he could carry the rest of the counties and win. He looked well pleased with the 15 percent lead that he was holding in the race. However, the controversy that the Ruff ad generated may not have been the deciding factor. As the results from all the offices came in, it looked very much like the public was voting experience all the way. Not only did Nielson have more actual legislative ex-- ex-- perience than his opponent but many of the other winners had the edge on their opponent in that respect. In the race for county commissioner, Gary Anderson, former assistant county attorney, won over Michaei Sullivan, marketing consultant. The race there was even more decisive in Anderson's favor. The total vote for the new 2-year county commissioner was 18,094 to 8,735 for Sullivan. The long-standing "gentleman's agreement", which would require that the new commissioner live in the south " end of the county, may have given, Anderson an extra edge, since he is a resident of Springville while Sullivan lives in Orem. ; There were two other county seats to be filled this election both were decided in Tuesday's primary. Incumbent In-cumbent Noall Wooton kept the lead over Jay Fit t. Tally showed Wooton with a 20 percent lead over Fitt. Final numbers were 16,426 for Wooton and 11,009 for Fitt. During the campaign for county assessor, Ronald McKay Smith stressed his experience as an assessor. He won 58.29 pernt of the votes. The tally was 15,208 for Smith and 10,882, for his opponent, John McGinn. In the race for state representative from District 57, which includes American Fork and Lehi, Neal B. Evans received 1,753 votes compared to DeAnn Palmer's 1,235. In non-partisan voting, several school board positions were up for election. The top two votegetters in those elections will face each other in the general election in November. In Lehi and American Fork, voters favored Afton Healey for the State Board of Education from District 7. She collected 1,474 votes, 35.42 percent of the total, and was followed by Karleen B. Barker with 1,025. Other in that race were: Donald Christensen, 658; Kenneth Larsen, 598; Howard Barben, 298; and Bruce Bammes, 109. , For the State Board of Education seat, District 8, which represents Pleasant Grove, Lindon, Manila, and Cedar Hills, Margaret R. Nelson received the most votes with KEITH BROWN, Pleasant Grove, casts his ballot early in Tuesdays Primary. Voting was very light until evening when it picked up somewhat. 5,594 out of a total of 18,515. Helen R. Batemen received 4,470 and the two women will face each other in the general election. Others getting votes in that race were Glen Brown with 3093, Russell Stansfield with 1,894, Walter Cryer with 1,763 and J. Lloyd Eldridge with 1,701. In Alpine District, Leon Walker captured the most votes among Lindonites. He came away with 849 out of 2,322 votes cast. Nancy Williamson followed with 697 votes and will run against Walker in the general election. In that race Scott Cartrer received 434 votes and Bonnie St. John received 342. From Precinct 5 covering American Fork and Lehi, Richard R. Sudweeks led the primary by perhaps the narrowest margin in the primaries. Of the 3,423 voters turning out, he received 630 votes for a total percentage of 18.40. Kenneth D. Whimpey, who drew 612 votes, will face him in the general election. Reese Johnson was a close third with 552 votes. Other candidates received as follows: John Rockwell, 475; Fred T. Wright, 405; Steve Denier, 235, LaMar C. Hatch, 112; and Tim Eisenhart, 102. Finally, in the three-man race for justice of the peace in Lehi, Ada P. Robinson held a wide margin of 973, with Michael J. Elkins receiving 131 and Julian Mercer getting 251 votes. Mercer will face Mrs. Robinson in the general election in November. |