The results are in and when the voting is verified, the primary election will officially move on to the general, as the political season gets into full swing.

Once the Gila County Elections Department verifies the results (after press time) the board of supervisors is set to canvass the vote at a special meeting on Thursday, Sept. 6 to declare the results official.

The Secretary of State will verify results statewide about one week later, according to County Elections Department Director Eric Mariscal.

Local results

In Globe, the non-partisan city council race featured six candidates vying for three seats. The Globe council is comprised of representatives from six districts, with the third, fourth and sixth district seats in play.

District 3 incumbent Roberta Johnson chose not seek re-election and the sole candidate for her seat was newcomer Jesse Leetham who received 234 of the 238 votes cast. Four votes went to write-in candidates, following a trend for most of the races throughout the county, where nearly every race featured at least a handful of votes for write-ins.

“I understand it’s a way to vent frustrations, but it is a consuming process,” Mariscal said of going through write-ins that can include celebrities such as Mickey Mouse and Santa Claus. “People do get frustrated.”

Leetham will eventually take his seat on council though, along with District 6 winner Fernando Shipley, who received 145 votes, 65 percent, against Joe Skamel’s 76, or 34 percent.

Shipley will take the place of Lerry Alderman, who is stepping away from public life due to health concerns.

According to Globe City Clerk Shelly Salazar, any candidate with 50 percent or more of the vote wins their particular district and will not have to participate in the General Election.

District 4 is shaping up to be a contest though, as incumbent Mike Stapleton will face off against Desmond Baker in a reprise of a previous race featuring two downtown restaurateurs: Baker owns the popular Vida e Caffe and Stapleton is proprietor of the Copper Hen.

The pair received 41- and 37 percent of the votes respectively — 98 votes for Stapleton and 88 for Baker — with fellow downtown business owner Sam Palmer receiving 49 votes or 20 percent.

Council will canvass its results at the Sept. 11 council meeting.

The Town of Miami, which appears to be in the midst of a political struggle for survival, had four of its seven non-partisan council seats in play.

The top four of six candidates will likely be seated in the next council.

Incumbents Susan Hanson and Rosemary Castaneda chose not to run for re-election, while Mayor Darryl Dalley and Councilmember Angel Medina received sufficient support to return, Dalley with 173 or 18.91 percent of the vote and Medina with 170 or 18.58 percent.

Dalley and Medina were sandwiched between newcomers Patty Warden, and Dan Moat. Moat received the largest number of votes with 200, or 21.86 percent and Warden 153, or 16.72 percent. Candidates Randal Prosser, 97, 10.6 percent, and Don Reiman, 120, 13 percent, did not qualify.

Miami is expected to canvass its results at the Sept. 10 meeting.

The Globe-Miami vote tally included nine write-in votes sprinkled throughout the results.

Gila County and statewide offices

County elections were light this year, due to the “Gubernatorial Cycle,” according to Mariscal.

The only contested election in the County was the Justice of the Peace Globe Regional, a partisan race that featured two Democrats, Mike Fane and Jordan Reardon, as well as Republican Mario Villegas.

Fane received 888 votes or 40 percent of the vote that was eclipsed by Reardon’s 1,282 or 58 percent. Reardon will face off in November with Villegas, who received 1,171 votes, or 87.39 percent. There were 169 Republican votes for the office, representing 12.61 percent of the votes cast.

Legislative District 8 featured two Republicans and three Democrats.

Democratic candidates included leading vote getter Carmen Casillas, 1,270, nearly 41 percent; publisher of the Globe-Miami Times Linda Gross, who received 1,063, 34 percent and Pablo Correa who fell out of the running with 771 votes or 24 percent.

Republican David Cook beat Thomas Shope by 10 percentage points, receiving 1,202 votes or 54 percent, compared to Shope’s 982 or 44 percent.

Overall voter turnout included 13,090 ballots cast from 28,886 registered voters for a turnout of 45.32 percent.

There were 12,301 Republican votes, 42.57 percent of registered Republican voters and 8,665 Democratic votes, slightly less than 30 percent.

The General Election takes place on Nov. 6 this year, with Oct. 9 being the last day to register to vote. Early voting begins Oct. 10, and the last day to request an early ballot by mail is Oct. 26. Nov. 2 is the last day to vote early.

For more information, go to www.gilacountyaz.gov, or contact the Recorder’s office in Globe at 928-402-8740.