The county's reputation as a wellspring of conservatism is still intact. Voters in Davis County punched Republican almost 80 percent of the time in Tuesday's political races. However, some 9,000 voters who punched straight-party tickets failed to read through the rest of the ballot, leaving school board races and proposed tax increases unanswered.

Two of those cases - a $24.8 million jail bond and a revote on fluoridated water - were decided by mere fractions of the overall vote.

After failing to ban fluoride in two elections, almost half of the county residents have resorted to stocking up on bottled water and filtering systems, says Kaysville resident David Hansen.

"We could campaign forever and I'm not sure we could change anybody's mind," says Hansen, who led the fluoride opposition in the 2000 and 2004 elections. "That doesn't help when almost 50 percent of the people who live here are having their rights trampled on by the other half."

Tuesday's election produced almost identical results as in 2000: Fluoride prevailed by a close 51 to 49 percent.

Hansen's family uses spring water, but others are expecting to spend at least $500 on a reverse-osmosis system to remove the chemical - or about $20 a week to buy bottled water.

"Poor people are going to suffer," Hansen says, countering Davis County health officials' claim that fluoridated water is the cheapest and most effective method for maintaining dental health.

The other close Davis County race was the much debated jail bond, which came within 5 percentage points of losing Tuesday night.

Even county officials, who say the jail is overcrowded and in desperate need of expansion, wonder why so many voted straight-tickets and left without having their say on such important matters as health and taxes.

"That 5 percent lead [in favor of the jail bond] held pretty steady all night long," says Commission chairman Dannie McConkie.

"So, we'll take that as a 'yes' from the people to go ahead with the jail, but I don't know what to tell those people who didn't take the time to vote on the matter."

The jail bond passed by a margin of 53 to 47 percent.

Assuming the nearly 50-50 divide would have held steady as well, McConkie notes that the bond would have still prevailed.

lorib@sltrib.com