This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
After a dispute that saw a narrow election victory tossed by a judge, only to be overturned by the Utah Supreme Court, the Millard County Republican Central Committee has chosen incumbent County Commissioner James Withers as the party's candidate to be on the November ballot.
Withers beat challenger Jim Dyer by a narrow five-vote margin in the Republican primary in June, but Dyer challenged the outcome in court, arguing seven votes shouldn't have been counted and one voter was wrongly turned away, casting doubt on the outcome.
The district judge sided with Dyer, voiding the election and ordering the county to conduct a new vote to choose the GOP commission candidate. The Utah Supreme Court, however, overturned the judge's order, ruling she didn't have the authority to order a new election, and gave the county Republican Party the go-ahead to choose its candidate.
In a meeting of the central committee this week, Dyer argued both candidates should appear on the ballot as write-ins. But the Republican delegates opted to choose a candidate, and Dyer withdrew from the contest, leaving Withers as the party's choice to appear on the ballot in November, according to party chairman Peter Greathouse.
Dyer could not be reached, but told the Millard County Chronicle Progress that, if both candidates don't get equal treatment on the ballot, the voters lose.
"At the end of the day if you can't be on the ballot even with somebody, the election won't work," Dyer told the paper. "And so they took it away from the electorate and gave it to the [Republican central] committee."
There is no Democrat in the race.
Twitter: @RobertGehrke