Cottonwood City Council candidate Lindsay Masten has dropped out of the runoff election for the remaining council seat, scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 5.
When reached by phone, Masten, 41, said she was withdrawing for personal reasons.
A resident of Cottonwood for the last four years, Masten is a member of the Cottonwood Planning and Zoning Commission and has been its chairwoman since 2022.
There were 6,775 votes cast in the eight-candidate race on July 30, with voters permitted to vote for up to three candidates. According to Yavapai County’s final unofficial election results, candidates required at least 1,129 votes to be elected outright and avoid a runoff. Bob Marks received 1,324 votes and Felicia Coates won 1,179 and were elected outright. Joy Mosley received 987 votes and Masten had 878 votes. Mosley and Masten were set to compete for the third seat on council.
Bill Tinnin received 771 votes, Heather Piper White 646 and incumbent Councilwoman Helaine Kurot 500. Last-place candidate Holly Grigaitis, whose residency in the city was in question, only earned 490 votes.
There were 1,853 “undervotes,” or votes for only one or two candidates instead of the allowed maximum of three.
Cottonwood City Clerk Tami Mayes said she was unsure if Mosley would appear on the ballot without a competitor and be elected by default in November, or if she would face the fifthplace candidate, Tinnin, who would be added to the ballot.
She stated that the city is currently examining the relevant case law to make a determination. Mosley will be on the ballot in either case, Mayes said.
A representative with the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office said that Arizona is a “bottom-up state” without a centralized rule for runoff candidates who drop out and the Cottonwood City Clerk would have to make the determination based on state statute and Cottonwood City Code.
Mayes said the determination would be made before the official election canvass by the Cottonwood City Council at the meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 13, after press time.
Recall Election
Current Cottonwood City Councilwoman Lisa DuVernay will also be facing a recall election in November. DuVernay was elected in 2022 and a petition to remove her from council was filed on March 5.
The petitioners allege that DuVernay showed a pornographic video during a council meeting, threatened legal action against the city if the mayor did not instruct staff to draft a city ordinance that had already been voted down by the majority of the council and engaged in nepotism by appointing her husband to the Cottonwood Planning and Zoning Commission instead of recusing herself from the vote.
Four council members did not attend three consecutive council meetings to schedule the recall election for July 30 including DuVernay; Councilman Stephen DeWillis; Councilman Derek Palosaari, who chose not to run for reelection, was the subject of a sexual harassment investigation over his conduct toward female staffers and has since filed a $2 million notice of claim against the city; and Councilman Michael Mathews, who ran for mayor but was soundly defeated by candidate Ann Shaw by 1,409 votes to 1,157.
After the July 30 deadline passed, council eventually scheduled DuVernay’s recall vote for November. No candidates have yet pulled paperwork to run against DuVernay in her recall. Palosaari and Mathews will be departing council after the November election. Both were appointed last year to fill vacancies.
