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Delegates cast votes for the county commission race at the Utah County Republican Convention on Saturday, April 20, 2024.

Carlene Coombs, Daily Herald

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Carrie Bartholomew, a candidate for the Utah State Board of Education, speaks with delegates at the Utah County Republican Convention on Saturday, April 20, 2024.

Carlene Coombs, Daily Herald

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Campaign signs are displayed outside of Skyridge High School in Lehi for the Utah County Republican Convention on Saturday, April 20, 204.

Carlene Coombs, Daily Herald

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Delegates gather to meet candidates at the Utah County Republican Convention on Saturday, April 20, 2024.

Carlene Coombs, Daily Herald

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A delegate holds a sign for House District 53 at the Utah County Republican Convention on Saturday, April 20, 2024.

Carlene Coombs, Daily Herald

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Delegates cast votes for the county commission race at the Utah County Republican Convention on Saturday, April 20, 2024.

Carlene Coombs, Daily Herald

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Skylar Beltran, a candidate for the county commission, speaks with delegates at the Utah County Republican Convention on Saturday, April 20, 2024.

Carlene Coombs, Daily Herald

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Delegates gather to meet candidates at the Utah County Republican Convention on Saturday, April 20, 2024.

Carlene Coombs, Daily Herald

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The Utah County Republican Party held its nominating convention Saturday, with delegates voting on several county and state races, including an open county commission seat now that Commissioner Tom Sakievich is retiring at the completion of his term.

Delegates also voted on state Senate and House seats, including open seats for Rep. Marsha Judkins, who leaves the Legislature at the end of her term. Rep. Keven Stratton also is running for the Senate this year, leaving his House seat open.

Delegates also passed a resolution calling for Utah to resign from the Electronic Registration Information Center.

County races

With Commissioner Sakivech retiring, the Republican field to fill his seat on the county commission garnered five candidates — Tom Westmoreland, Diane Garcia, Jay Ugarte, Skyler Beltran and Andrew Jackson.

Delegates voted to nominate Beltran, a former Utah County Republican Party chair, who received 66% of the vote in the second round.

Westmoreland, Garcia and Jackson ran as convention-only candidates and did not gather signatures, meaning they will not continue to the primary in June.

Ugarte was the only Republican candidate in the race to file for both convention and signature gathering. When asked on Saturday, Utah County Clerk Aaron Davidson was unsure if Ugarte had received enough signatures to qualify, saying his staff would have that information sometime next week.

The commission race does have one other contender, United Utah Party candidate Alan Wessman, who will be on the ballot in November.

The incumbent county recorder and assessor each faced one challenger at the convention, with both of them overwhelmingly receiving the nomination to retain their seats.

Andrea Allen, the current county recorder, received 87% of the delegate vote. Her challenger, Garrett Mast, received 13% of the delegate vote.

County Accessor Burt Garfield received 79% of the delegate vote, moving on to the primary ballot. His challenger, Keven Ewell, a recent Brigham Young University graduate, received 21% of the vote.

No candidates from other parties filed to run for either the accessor or recorder’s office, leaving only one candidate apiece for both offices in November.

Races for county treasurer and surveyor are unopposed.

Utah House races

A majority of the county’s state House races were unopposed, with only three contested seats in House districts 57, 58 and 61.

District 61, which is in Provo, is currently held by Judkins, who is not pursuing reelection this year. Lisa Shepherd, current senior policy advisor for Sakeivich, received the nomination with about 70% of the vote.

She will still face Provo City Councilman Travis Hoban in the primary since he gathered enough signatures to qualify.

Rep. Nelson Abbott received the nomination for his reelection bid in District 57, which encompasses Vineyard and some of Orem. Abbott’s sole contender, Mike Cox, did not gather enough signatures to qualify for the primary, leaving Abbott unopposed.

District 58, which holds parts of Orem and Provo, is currently held by Stratton, who is now running for the state Senate seat held by Sen. Curt Bramble, who is retiring.

David Shallenberger received just about 55% for that race. Holly Sweeten, a staffer for U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens, gathered enough signatures to qualify for the primary and will be on the ballot in June. Another candidate, Angela Moulton, didn’t gather signatures and will not be on the ballot.

Utah Senate races

Contested state Senate races that encompass Utah County will be voted on at the state GOP convention, which is next Saturday, due to those districts covering more than one county.

Sen. Heidi Balderree, R-Saratoga Springs, was elected during a special election in October after then-Sen. Jake Anderegg resigned. She is facing two GOP challengers — Emily Lockhart and Garrett Cammas.

With Bramble retiring, there are three Republicans vying to fill his seat in District 24 — Stratton and former state lawmakers Daniel Hemmert and Bradley Daw.

Senate District 25, which encompasses part of southern Utah County, is currently held by Sen. Mike McKell. McKell’s only primary challenger, Michael Cook, was disqualified from the race after he failed to gather enough signatures.

Earlier this year, Cook attempted to go to the county party to request to run as a convention candidate despite filing to run as a signature-gathering-only contender. After receiving direction from the state election’s office, it was determined Cook could not run as a convention candidate due to his filing.

School board races

Delegates voted on selecting a nominee for state School District 13, with both Carrie Bartholomew and Alyson Robertson moving on to the primary due to a close vote. Bartholomew received 51% and Robertson 48%. Randy Boothe, who received the fewest votes from delegates, collected signatures and will still be on the primary ballot.

Local school board races are nonpartisan and don’t receive a nomination from political parties. Rather, the party can vote to endorse a candidate, with a contender needing at least 60%.

In Nebo School District, Scott Wilson for District 7 received the endorsement from the party.

Terry McCabe, running for Provo School District 5, also received a party endorsement.

In Alpine School District, Emily Peterson received the endorsement for District 6 and Brian Bird for District 3.

Call for Utah to withdraw from ERIC

Following in the steps of the Salt Lake, Weber and Davis County GOP parties, Utah County GOP passed a resolution calling for Utah to withdraw from the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC.

Twenty-four states, including Utah, are members of ERIC, which compares voter registration rolls between member states to find inaccuracies, such as duplicate voter registrations when someone moves from one state to another.

The resolution calls for Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, the state’s chief election officer, to pull Utah out of its membership, citing concerns about data privacy.

On April 13, Henderson posted on X, formerly Twitter, in response to other county parties’ resolutions, saying ERIC has become the latest “boogeyman of the radical election deniers.”

“But their claims are not based in fact,” she wrote, “and their demands are counterproductive to their rhetoric. ERIC is the only tool member states have to ensure certain things.” She added that ERIC is how Utah determines when Utahns are registered to vote in another member state or obtain a driver’s license in another member state.

Delegates who spoke in favor of the resolution said they are concerned about a “nongovernment entity” having access to voter information, with one delegate saying, “we are playing with fire.”

One delegate who was against the resolution said it was “anti-election integrity,” and other delegates said they weren’t aware the resolution was on the agenda and weren’t informed on the issue.

The statewide Utah Republican convention will be held in Salt Lake City on April 27, where delegates will vote to nominate candidates in highly contested races like U.S. Senate and Utah’s 3rd Congressional District.

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