Outcome of Weber County races unknown

OGDEN — Did Matthew Godfrey really win Ogden's mayoral election?

He certainly won round one Tuesday night with a 181-vote lead over challenger Susan Van Hooser. But what about round two, under way now?

Weber County has announced that approximately 500 absentee ballots, plus an undetermined number of provisional ballots, weren't counted Tuesday and have the potential to affect the outcome of the mayoral race and just about every other race in Weber County, too.

"It is county-wide," Gloria Berrett, elections administrator in the Weber County Clerk/Auditor's Office, said. She stressed that as such, all election results in Weber County will remain unofficial until the counting is complete.

"You can't officially declare anyone the winner yet," she said.

Weber County began the long process Wednesday of checking and verifying signatures on these ballots. Berrett said they could not be added into Tuesday's total for two reasons: first, because the county didn't even have all of these extra ballots until Wednesday, and second, some require a lot of extra work in verification and can't be sent by computer.

Her goal is to have all the extra verification/counting complete by Tuesday at noon. The Veterans Day holiday Monday delays the process an extra day.

"We're going as fast as we can," Berrett said, noting that the process is governed by state law and cannot be rushed. Legally, the County Clerk's Office has a maximum of seven days to complete the counting.

Berrett said her office has brought in some extra staff to help with the tedious process.

Ogden City Recorder Cindi Mansell said she heard an estimate of approximately 480 provisional ballots, so the total uncounted ballots could easily approach 1,000 — enough to swing just about any election outcome in the county.

Provisional ballots are ones that were cast, but are not counted until verification that the voter actually lives in the district, or is a registered voter.

Godfrey is seeking a third term as mayor, while councilwoman Van Hooser would be the first female mayor of Ogden, if elected.