And Peter Corroon, Merrill Cook, Diana Lee Hirschi and F. Joseph Irish want to be your mayor.

Of course, Rocky Anderson also may be your mayor - or Dan Snarr or Tom Dolan or Janice Auger.

In reality, most Salt Lake County residents have two mayors: their city mayor and their county mayor.

That leads to some head scratching. But the point is: If you live anywhere in Salt Lake County - Holladay to Herriman, West Valley to West Jordan, Sandy to unincorporated Kearns - you can vote in this fall's county mayoral race.

Whether residents figure that out by Nov. 2 could determine the election's outcome.

"I'm pretty well informed. I listen to KSL Radio. I just haven't ever heard that come up," says South Jordan resident Lisa Elder after learning that she could vote in the county mayor's race.

The confusion may come from the title: mayor.

It's a fairly new county position. Workman, a full-time mayor, took office nearly four years ago, along with nine County Council members. They replaced the County Commission in a move meant to make government more representative and responsive.

Veteran pollster Dan Jones says the mayor moniker has led to misinformation and even apathy among voters.

"Many times we'll say, 'Do you approve or disapprove of the job the county mayor is doing?' Jones says. "They'll say, 'Well, that's not my mayor. My mayor is Rocky Anderson or Tom Dolan.'

Fewer than 12 weeks before the election, "don't know" responses in county mayor polls register 25 percent compared with 10 percent in the gubernatorial race, according to Jones.

"Some people know who the candidates are," Jones adds, "but don't know they can vote in that race."

Holladay's Richard Heiner displays some registered voters' confusion. "I don't vote for the county mayor," he says, "I vote for the mayor of Holladay."

South Salt Lake resident Marin Bywater describes herself and her husband as politically astute. As such, she was embarrassed to learn the couple could indeed cast a vote for county mayor.

"I didn't realize I could vote in that race," Bywater says between selling bundles of produce at an outdoor fruit stand. "The sad thing is, my husband is a county delegate, and I didn't know."

Ballot bewilderment seems to be a two-way street.

Asked to name her city mayor, Murray's Sandra Malbon didn't think of Dan Snarr. "Is it Workman?" Malbon asks. "I see her name all the time."

That's especially true after a string of county scandals from vehicle abuses to questionable hiring practices.

This year marks the first time the county mayor's job has been up for re-election.

"There's still quite a bit of confusion out there," says unaffiliated candidate Cook.

"There is absolutely some misunderstanding on that," adds Workman's campaign chief, Chris Bleak. "Average folks have not started tuning in yet. There needs to be a continued education on what the county is."

In fact, Workman's chief opponent, Corroon, placed a "Who Can Vote For Mayor" explainer at the top of his campaign Web site and drives home that point while on the stump.

Salt Lake City residents who were interviewed tended to be more aware they have two mayors, but they are not necessarily riveted by the county contest.

"I don't feel like it has any effect on me," Jim Carter says. "I always vote, but I'm much more interested in the city."

Diane Kelly echoes the thought, saying county mayor is "not as high profile."

Staking out some grass at the Gallivan Center for a recent outdoor concert, fellow Salt Laker Lindsey Oswald agrees.

"It seems like Rocky cares about issues that affect me," she says.

Actually, the county mayor oversees a lot in Salt Lake City - from Abravanel Hall to Capitol Theatre to the Clark Planetarium. The county owns or manages multiple facilities in the city's downtown in addition to running the state's largest library system and valley-wide recreation programs. (See accompanying story.)

Steven Harvey, a resident of unincorporated Emigration Canyon, won't be one of the ambivalent this year. While flipping through City Weekly in a downtown park, he rattles off campaign topics and talks about volunteering for a candidate this fall.

"I was thinking of at least putting a sign in my lawn," Harvey says.

Still, with widespread puzzlement and the county mayor race buried deep on the ballot - 9,300 fewer people voted for county mayor than for governor in Salt Lake County in 2000 - Jones says interest thus far is lukewarm.

"Recently, people are more aware," he says. "But they think it's the other guy that's going to vote in that race and not themselves."

While watching her son swim in West Jordan, Pam Passey knew about the different races. Asked to name her mayor, she responded, "County or city?"

But she agrees most people probably don't know that. "Isn't that sad? Some of these elections are so close. It does make a difference. There needs to be an awareness campaign. A lot of people just don't know."

djensen@sltrib.com

tburr@sltrib.com