Changing of the Guard

Last night, according to KSL, caucuses all across the state experienced record setting attendance. This was also true for the Precinct PA04 precinct. Our caucus, like many of the caucuses being hosted at Payson High School last night was almost standing room only. At 7:32 pm, Doris Adams, our newly former Precinct Secretary, was able to confirm that we had credentialed 138 voters to participate in the caucus. Ultimately we had 151 credentialed voters in attendance when all was said and done. There was an excitement in the as the addition of a Presidential Preference Primary had been moved up by the party from it's regular date in June to March this year.

The biggest result that came from moving up our Presidential Primary to earlier in the Presidential election cycle was that Utah gained the focus of all five Presidential candidates. This year Utah witnessed major campaign events all over the state late last week as the candidates were forced to spend time here competing for our votes.

This increased attention resulted in increased attendance and put increased pressure on caucus organizers. PA04 was no exception. I personally had not been sleeping well at night in the days running up to caucus night worried about anything and everything that could or would go wrong. Thankfully, due to my over preparation, our fantastic volunteers, and a very patient and understanding caucus attendees, everything went as smoothly as could be expected.

The rundown of the results from last night are as follows according to the order of the ballots:

Presidential Preference Primary
Ted Cruz-Winner with 116 votes in PA04. Ted was the big winner in the state of Utah overall.
John Kasich-23 votes
Donald Trump-11 votes
Mitt Romney-1 vote (Wishful thinking, but who can blame them?)

Precinct Chair, LD 67 County Delegate, Precinct State Delegate #1
Raphael Millet-Winner with 107 votes

Precinct Vice Chair, County Delegate #1 
Ed Younica by acclimation

Precinct Secretary, County Delegate #2
Juliana Millet by acclimation

Precinct Treasurer, County Delegate #3
Allaire Younica by acclimation

State Delegate #2
Daniel Bradley-67 votes on the first ballot round.

State Delegate #3
Juliana Millet-82 votes on the fourth ballot round.

County Delegate #4
Brian Hughes-Won on the first ballot round, but I don't have the total.

County Delegate #5
Walt Johnson-Won on the second ballot round, but I don't have the total.

The body of the caucus moved to automatically elect both the Precinct Secretary and the Precinct Treasurer as County Delegates. All of the voting was done by around 9:00 pm, with the final vote tallies being announced by 9:15ish.

One unique result from last night's voting was that we were able to elect an additional county delegate. Raphael Millet, who was elected as Precinct Chair, is currently serving as the Vice Chair for our Legislative District 67. In that position, he is automatically elected as a County Delegate. With his election, that freed up the County Delegate position that is normally assigned to the Precinct Chair, thereby giving PA04 an opportunity to send one more individual to represent us at the County Convention in April.

I would like to wrap up this post by thanking all of the great volunteers that worked hard to help our Caucus run so smoothly.

I would like to thank Doris Adams for leading the charge and taking over the registration and credentialing desk. She was amazing and fulfilled her duties as Precinct Secretary with distinction. I would like to thank her helpers Dick Allen, Diane Allen and Lois Knuteson. They made the organized chaos of the registration desk run as smoothly as possible.

I would like to thank the young men of Troop 915 and the Mountain View 2nd Ward for being on hand in a neutral capacity to provide a wonderful flag ceremony and being my ballot collection team. Specifically Gammon Ashton, Jex Ashton, Tyler Caldwell, Hunter Harvey, Ben Meldrum, Garrett Ruch, and Bradley Spencer. I have a special shout out to Chris Ruch and Hyrum Meldrum for being my speech timers to ensure that our speakers stuck to their two minute time limit. I would also like to thank their leaders Justin Ruch, Paul Ashton, and Spencer Peterson for getting them there.

I would like to also thank again Doris Adams and Teona Humphries for helping to count and process all of the ballots.

Finally I would like to thank my wife Tanya Harvey for not just being there and being a support to me, but for taking charge of the vote counting. That was big job she was handed on the spot and she was fantastic.

I am grateful that I had an opportunity to serve my community in my capacity as Precinct Chair for the past two years. I know that those elected last night are all good people who are dedicated in their desire to select candidates that will represent our views and the values of the Republican Party.

Burt Harvey
Former Precinct Chair
Payson PA04 Precinct