Cottonwood
Three City Council seats are on the line in Cottonwood’s 2026 election, each carrying a four-year term. Incumbent Councilmen Stephen DeWillis and Christopher Dowell and Councilwoman Debbie Wilden are all seeking reelection, with challenger Scott Ellis campaigning to claim a seat. Ellis formerly worked as Cottonwood’s Community Development director.
Three council seats will be decided in the primary election on Tuesday, July 21. Mathematically, at least two candidates will be elected outright.
If a third candidate doesn’t earn 50% plus one vote in the primary to win a seat outright, the last two candidates will campaign in a runoff, held at the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Threshold calculation: Because each voter casts 3 votes, the total vote pool is 3× the number of voters. A candidate must exceed 50% of that total. So in a 1,000-voter election, there are 3,000 votes cast and the magic number is 1,501 per candidate.
Why a full sweep is rare but possible: Since votes aren’t zero-sum in the same way (one voter can support 3 candidates), it’s theoretically possible for all 3 winning candidates to each clear 50%+1 — but it would require nearly unanimous consensus. In a competitive 4-candidate race, runoffs are the more likely outcome for at least one seat.
What’s impossible: All 4 candidates clearing the threshold simultaneously. Since there are only 3 seats and the threshold is set above 50%, at most 3 can qualify.
Clarkdale
“Incumbent Laura Jones is running for re-election. Ben Kramer is running for the other seat,” Clarkdale Town Clerk Charity Brooks wrote.
Their names will appear on the ballot, but the race is effectively uncontested, unless there is a late write-in candidate.
The filing deadline for write in candidates is Friday, May 22.
The voter registration deadline is Monday, June, 22.
Early voting takes place from Wednesday, June 24, through Wednesday, July 17
