Mapleton results too close to call

MAPLETON — Stan Sorenson was not happy Tuesday night. And if he ends up losing in his bid for Mapleton mayor as a result of a polling mix-up: "I'll be livid," Sorenson said.

No election results from Mapleton were available when the Deseret Morning News went to press Tuesday night, meaning mayoral candidate Sorenson likely went to bed mad.

The controversy, Sorenson says, started with incumbent mayor Dean Allan, whose cousin is Collin Allan, a member of Nebo School District Board of Education, to which Hobble Creek Elementary, one of two polling areas in Mapleton, belongs.

Last week, students at Hobble Creek Elementary took home a newsletter for November, which included an item reminding parents of students to get out and vote. It also incorrectly stated that "Hobble Creek Elementary School is not a polling place for these city elections."

Sorenson contends that he has strong support from residents living in the north end of Mapleton who would likely cast their ballots at Hobble Creek.

City Recorder Camille Brown said she wasn't made aware of the newsletter until just after the polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday, adding that she didn't know why the school would issue such a statement. "The school was advised (that it was a polling location)," Brown said.

Hobble Creek Principal Garth Bird disagrees. "The city never told us," Bird said Tuesday night.

Part of the reason for the mix-up could be that Mapleton didn't have a primary election, the principal said. However, the city had been a polling site the past two years.

"On this election, we just assumed that the city wasn't going to use our building," Bird said.

The principal said he learned in October that the school would again be used as a polling site but by that time the newsletter had already gone to press.

"I asked the students to cross (the sentence about the school not being a polling area) out, but I guess some didn't do that," he said.

In retrospect, Bird said he wished he had called the city and asked whether the school would be a polling site before including the statement in the newsletter.

And on that point, Sorenson agrees.

"I don't understand for the life of me why he didn't make a phone call." he said.

But as for conspiring against Sorenson, Bird said that's just not true.