The Davis County Commission Seat B race has flipped leads multiple times in the past two weeks, and the latest count released Friday afternoon shows unaffiliated candidate Bret Millburn ahead of Republican Susan Lee by 311 votes — 54,987 to 54,676, or 50.14% to 49.86%.
That margin is a jump from the 18-vote lead Millburn held after totals were released last Tuesday, according to KSL News, which has been tracking the count as it has swung back and forth for days. As of Friday, Davis County still had 100 ballots left to count, along with 2,604 ballots that had been rejected but remain curable, per the same report.
The seesaw has been dramatic. Millburn led after the initial batch of ballots was counted, then Lee took the lead once another batch of totals was added, KSL reported. By last Tuesday night, Nov. 10, the race had narrowed to just 18 votes in Millburn's favor — 54,475 to 54,457 — according to the Standard-Examiner, which noted that Lee had actually led by 344 votes after an earlier Thursday update, while Millburn had led by 892 votes after a Wednesday update before that.
Thousands Of Ballots Still In Play
Just how many ballots remained to be counted as of last Tuesday depends on which account you read. The Standard-Examiner's report said 940 ballots were still available to count at that point, along with 2,587 rejected-but-curable ballots. But at a commission meeting the same day, Davis County Clerk Brian McKenzie gave a different figure, telling attendees, “We have approximately 4,500 or so ballots left that potentially could be counted,” according to the Davis Journal.
McKenzie also said many of the ballots still in play were provisional ballots, the Davis Journal, a newspaper covering Davis County, reported. Curable ballots, meanwhile, are those that can be remedied by voters who had signature or ID issues, and the deadline to cure them is noon this coming Monday, according to the Davis County Republican Party.
The margins have shifted before. Back on Nov. 4, with around 30,000 ballots still to be counted countywide, the Standard-Examiner reported Millburn leading by 1,072 votes, 51.07% to 49.34%. KSL's own report from that day cited the same 1,072-vote lead but listed the percentages as 50.7% to 49.3%. Either way, the county's tally has moved considerably since then, and McKenzie told the Davis Journal, “We may not know the result of that race until next Tuesday when we certify it just because of how close it is.”
What Comes Next
Davis County's vote totals are scheduled to be certified next Tuesday, Nov. 17, per county officials cited by KSL. A county government page notes that unofficial results continue to update as ballots are counted and only become official after that canvass.
Whoever wins the Millburn-Lee contest will join Kendalyn Harris, a Republican and former Bountiful mayor who ran uncontested for the Seat A commission post, and incumbent Republican John Crofts on the three-member Davis County Commission. Millburn previously served three terms on the commission as a Republican before entering this race as an unaffiliated candidate against the winner of last June's GOP primary.
That primary saw Lee defeat incumbent Seat B Commissioner Lorene Kamalu. Lee is the mother of Trevor Lee, who resigned from the Utah House in September after Utah state prosecutors filed fraud charges against him that same month. Seat A, now going to Harris, is currently held by Bob Stevenson, who won election to the Utah House District 16 seat as a Republican after defeating Trevor Lee in last June's Republican primary for that district.
