The citizens of a Utah town run by a polygamous cult may finally elect a non-sect mayor, but they have to fight for a fair election.
City officials of Hildale, Utah, a town run by the officials affiliated with the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), have hearkened to the concerns of non-sect citizens who fear that as the town gears up for a new election, sect members may recruit non-eligible voters to cast votes in favor of an FLDS affiliated candidate, according to the Associated Press.
The Nov. 7 Hildale mayoral and city council member elections are part of a court ordered municipal overhaul in response to a 2016 finding that the governments of Hildale and the nearby town of Colorado, Ariz., discriminated against non-FLDS citizens. Donia Jessop stands as Hildale’s non-FLDS mayoral candidate, nominated mostly by citizens who do not affiliate with the Warren Jeffs led FLDS.
While citizens are hopeful for a fair election, some like Elissa Wall are doing their part to ensure that outcome, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. Wall and other concerned citizens have gone door to door in Hildale and compiled a list of 102 registered voters, out of the 365 who had registered as of Oct. 26, who they believe should not be eligible based on their actual place of residence.
“There was a lot of concern that we were doing it to push the FLDS out, and that wasn’t it in any way, shape or form.” Wall told the Tribune.
Melanie Abplanalp, Washington County election supervisor, told the Tribune that her office will contact the 102 voters on Wall’s list and give them the chance to prove that they do live at the addresses they used to register, or to update their residency information.
Utah deputy director of elections, Justin Lee, told the Tribune that the lieutenant governor’s office trained some Hildale officials in preparation for the upcoming elections, but said that he was not confident the election would be fair.
“I don’t know if we’re confident but we’re hopeful,” Lee said. “We’re really hopeful it’s going to be fair.”
Though many FLDS members moved out of the area over a dispute with the land trust that used to own most of the locals homes, which the FLDS claim is run by “apostates,” non-FLDS citizens of Hildale remain fearful that the FLDS will recruit sect members who either no longer live in the town or who never lived in the town to register as Hildale voters. Jessop, in response to those fears, told the Tribune she will examine the ballots and is prepared to challenge the election results if she, or the two non-FLDS city council candidates, lose.
Jessop said her opposition to the incumbent Mayor Philip Barlow and his administration is not motivated by religious reasons but by the administration’s failure to provide and improve basic services in Hildale, which has prevented new businesses from moving in.
“They will not move in if we do not change the Town Council,” Jessop told the Tribune. “They’ve already told us.”
Barlow has also said that matters of faith are not a factor in the election, and the true issue at stake is whether a given candidate can actually better Hildale.
“In the city [government], we just do our job,” Barlow said. “We make the water flow and we work on the streets and we try to make things better.”
Despite Lee’s reticence to predict a fair election, Abplanalp told the Tribune that she and her office will ensure that the citizens of Hildale get exactly that.
“We’ll be in charge of counting, verifying and auditing,” Abplanalp said.
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