The primary election in Arizona is set for Aug. 4. In the Verde Valley, there are four competitive races that will be decided on that date.
Though most council races in the area are uncontested, there will be two-person mayoral races in Camp Verde, Clarkdale and Sedona, and eight candidates for five spots in Jerome.
With only two candidates in the mayoral races, there will be no runoffs for the general election in November, making the results of the August primary final.
For Jerome, there will be runoffs if there are not five candidates who surpass the vote threshold to avoid one.
Early voting for the Aug. 4 election begins on July 6, with the final deadline for requesting an absentee ballot on July 24. The voter registration deadline will be on July 6. Voters interested in getting registered can do so online at servicearizona.com.
- In Camp Verde, Jackie Baker, Chris McPhail and Jessie Murdock are running unopposed for council, while Mayor Charlie German faces Vice Mayor Dee Jenkins for re-election.
- In Clarkdale, incumbent Doug Von Gausig faces Robyn Prud’homme Bauer in the mayoral race, and Marney Babbitt-Pierce, Deb Hunseder and Alicia O’Neill are each guaranteed seats in the uncontested three-seat council race.
- In Cottonwood, four candidates — Tosca Henry, Helaine Kurot, Jackie Nairn and Debbie Wilden — are running for four council seats, while no one is challenging Mayor Tim Elinski for re-election.
- In Sedona, Mayor Sandy Moriarty will face Kurt Gehlbach in the primary, while Holli Ploog, Kathy Kinsella and Jessica Williamson are uncontested for the three open council seats.
- In Jerome, Christina Barber, John Bouwman, Nikki Check, Jack Dillenberg, Susan Gregory, Sage Harvey, Jane Moore and Mandy Worth are competing for five open seats.
The League of Women Voters of Greater Verde Valley has for years run candidate forums for municipal elections in the Verde Valley. This year, with COVID-19 making gathering for a public debate difficult, the LWV is doing virtual forums, recording debates for Jerome Council and mayoral races in Camp Verde, Clarkdale and Sedona starting on June 17. The forums will be recorded by Yavapai Broadcasting and be posted online.
Normally, questions for the LWV candidate forum come from audience members submitting them on cards to the moderator during the debate. However, with the debates being virtual, the league is requesting those interested to email them questions in advance. The league is requesting that questions be sent to JeromeCouncilForum@gmail.com and CampVerdeMayorForum@gmail.com by June 15, and ClarkdaleMayorForum@gmail.com and SedonaMayorForum@gmail.comby June 22.
“People are submitting questions in advance, so they don’t have the opportunity of listening to the response of a candidate to a prior question that would prompt another related question or a follow-on question,” League of Women Voters of Greater Verde Valley President Gail Digate said.
“A lot of the preparation work has to be done ahead of time,” said Barbara Litrell, who will be the moderator for Jerome and Camp Verde.
Though the moderators are hoping they can make the forums just as informative as in a normal year, Mary Chicoine, who will be moderating for Sedona and Clarkdale, lamented that it will not be quite the same.
“The limitation of doing it in studio is that there is no audience,” Chicoine said. “The forums are to get to know your public servants, and those people who are going to serve you after this forum. There is energy and relation- ships built when we’ve got the audience there.”
