Crockett confident, Winder hopeful, outcome still a question

Mark Crockett proceeded Wednesday as if he is the Republican nominee for Salt Lake County mayor.

Mike Winder held out hope that more than 7,900 ballots still being certified and tabulated by the Salt Lake County Clerk's Office will eliminate a 239-vote deficit and make him the GOP choice instead.

That won't be known until July 10, when the County Council, acting as the board of canvassers, verifies the primary results.

If the gap remains less than 724 votes, one for each precinct in the county, the loser may request a recount, said County Clerk Sherrie Swensen.

"We have lots of people working away, trying to get this done," Swensen said, citing the tedious work of ensuring that absentee, provisional and mail-in ballots are valid.

"Not all of those will be eligible," she added, "but there also will still be some [mail-in] ballots trickling in" that will be valid if postmarked by Monday or earlier.

Winder took a break from his ongoing duties as West Valley City mayor to send the news media an email stating "our campaign will make sure we have poll watchers at the County Clerk's Office to make sure these are all counted fairly and accurately."

He added that if 53 percent of those 7,900 ballots go in his favor, he would win. "And if Mark Crockett's lead remains after all of the votes are counted [and any recount takes place]," Winder said, "I will graciously support him as our party's nominee and work for his success in the field."

Crockett was fairly confident the remaining ballots would not sway the outcome of Tuesday night's results, which had him ahead 34,481 to 34,242 — or 50.2 percent to 49.8 percent.

"We feel great to be the likely winner," said the former county councilman, who is managing director of Vici Capital Partners. "We certainly have to wait for the official announcement, but, statistically, with [nearly] 70,000 votes counted, it's likely we will be confirmed."

The two-week wait to know for certain will not put a dent into his plans to take on Democrat Ben McAdams for the seat being vacated by Peter Corroon, who decided not to seek a third term.

"We're not spending a ton of money in the next two weeks, but planning ahead for the next campaign," Crockett said. "It's the one I've been looking forward to from the beginning — a good, constructive discussion about … priorities and the tactics about how we improve county government."

For his part, McAdams released a statement saying he intends to continue meeting with county residents, "sharing my plans to continue a legacy of sound conservative fiscal management, bipartisan cooperation, and open and transparent government."

A state senator and key adviser to Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker, McAdams said he has the "team and the resources to conduct a strong and successful campaign against whomever our opponent ultimately will be."

mikeg@sltrib.com

Twitter: @sltribmikeg —

Final tally

The Salt Lake County Council's canvass of primary election results will take place July 10. Here are the results as of now:

Mark Crockett, 34,481, 50.2%

Mike Winder, 34,242, 49.8%