This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Legislators and election officials have been trying to figure out for years how to fairly place the order of candidates on a ballot since it is widely accepted that, particularly in low-profile nonpartisan races, the contender listed at the top has an edge.
The rule used to be placing the candidates in alphabetical order, but the Andersons, Bakers and Chandlers consistently had the advantage over the Simpsons, Taylors and Wilsons.
One suggestion from Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy, was to put one candidate first on half the ballots and the opponent first on the other half. But county clerks balked, saying it would take too much work.
Eliason finally got a bill passed that the initials would be randomly picked every two years from one to 26. Those whose names began with the higher placed initials would be on the ballot first.
This year, the No. 1 initial is P, followed by N, I, H, D, E, S, B, K and U — to round out the top 10.
But this system might have a tendency to favor female contenders who have maiden names that would give them a better ballot spot.
The state school board's District 7, for instance, had seven candidates in the primary. Carol Lear, a longtime Utah Office of Education attorney, was 25th on the randomized alphabet, putting her last on the ballot.
So she suddenly became Carol Barlow-Lear, shifting from the lowly L to the eighth-ranked B and earning her a second position on the ballot.
Not to be outdone, Leslie Castle, the incumbent, became Leslie Brooks-Castle, using her maiden name to jump to No. 3 on the ballot.
That might have been a mistake since her name change might have neutered her advantage as an incumbent. Voters may have been more familiar with her discarded name.
Brooks-Castle was ousted in the primary, while Barlow-Lear made it to the fall election. The other candidate to survive the primary was Shelly Teuscher, who was listed fifth out of the seven candidates.
The top ballot placement went to Frank Strickland because S was seventh in the randomized alphabet.
That didn't do him much good. He also lost in the primary.
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Absentee voting? • Goldie M. Poulsen punctually receives her voter-registration information every year from Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen and is instructed to contact the clerk through telephone or email of any change in her address.
There is just one problem: She has been dead since October 2011.
Daughter Carolyn Bennion changed Poulsen's mailing address to her own when her mother died so she could keep up with any important communication. She has received her mother's voter-registration mail every year, and every year she has contacted the clerk's office to inform them of her mom's death.
This year, out of frustration, she sent Swensen a certified letter explaining that her mother has been dead for five years and that there is no forwarding address.
That was in May. She has heard nothing from the clerk's office, although she did get confirmation the letter was received.
You would think Poulsen was buried in Chicago. After all, she was a Democrat.
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Honk and wave? • The joke has always been that if you want to stay politically active after you die, make sure you're buried in Chicago, where the dead still get to vote.
It appears Utah can go a step further. The dead also can actively campaign.
A number of campaign signs for Rep. LaVar Christensen, R-Draper, recently appeared in Sandy — at the Larkin Sunset Gardens cemetery.
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Location, location, location • Whoever selects the sites for the Utah governor's campaign billboards made at least one clumsy choice.
The Gary Herbert/Spencer Cox billboard near 3300 South and 700 East was juxtaposed last week right next to another sign that said in huge letters: "Epic Failure."
Fortunately for the Herbert team, someone noticed and by Monday the "Epic Failure" sign was replaced with a billboard promoting water conservation.