It was a long evening for Salt Lake County mayoral candidates, with the numbers remaining close through press time. But with 32 percent of precincts reporting, Democrat Peter Corroon led Republican Ellis Ivory 50 to 43 percent.
Independent Merrill Cook came in at 6 percent.
"We'll have to wait and see," Corroon said. "I said from the first that it was going to be close."
The race may come down to the approximately 5,000-7,000 provisional ballots, as estimated by County Clerk Sherrie Swensen, that will not be counted until the official canvass on Nov. 16. The results also don't include the approximately 18,000 absentee ballots cast before Nov. 2 in which Corroon led Ivory (who was a write-in candidate during part of that time) by about a two-to-one margin.
"It's only fitting that the end would be a drama," Ivory said. "The whole campaign has been a drama. I feel good if I win, I feel good if I lose."
In the past eight months the mayor's race has gone through a series of controversies, investigations, court battles, intrigues and political maneuverings that University of Utah political science professor Tim Chambless calls "unprecedented — almost unimaginable."
While Corroon has been in the race since last March, Ivory has only been at it for a month, most of that time as a write-in candidate, then for a short time as the Republican candidate, then as a write-in, then, finally, as the Republican. The confusion, caused by conflicting court decisions in a legal challenge to Ivory's Republican candidacy, made things very difficult for Swensen.
At the end, Ivory's poll watchers found five precincts that had not put his name on the ballot, an oversight that was quickly corrected with few, if any, votes affected.
Ivory said he will not file any complaint in the matter.
"Frankly, I think it's amazing that it was that few," Swensen said.
The saga began with the "guzzle-gate" scandal last May. Then, in June, it was revealed that Mayor Nancy Workman was being investigated for her hiring two county-paid employees who had worked for her daughter at the Boys and Girls Clubs of South Valley, the thing that ultimately brought her down.
The Republicans hung with Workman for a time, but further revelations that she had paid her daughter's former boyfriend for county computer work that was never done sealed the deal for many party members; they voted Oct. 5 to withdraw their support from Workman and give it to Ivory, founder of the state's largest residential developer Ivory Homes, a Republican who had announced himself as a write-in candidate.
Ivory immediately vowed not to accept any campaign contributions, saying he was prepared to spend $400,000 of his own money in the race.
When Workman announced her withdrawal a week later, the Republicans tried twice to get Ivory's name on the ballot before finally succeeding last week, following another Central Committee meeting and an unsuccessful court challenge by Democrats.
During the entire convoluted saga, Democrat Corroon, a developer of a handful of projects in and around Salt Lake City, continued his own campaign.
"There's only been one thing consistent about Salt Lake County during this whole thing, and that's been Peter Corroon," said Corroon's wife, Amy.
But Corroon often found himself upstaged by the endless series of crises and emergencies at county headquarters and within the Republican ranks.
During the ongoing soap opera, Corroon, who pushed smart growth, open space, mass transit and other traditional Democratic positions, often got the most attention when he simply responded to Workman's drawn-out political meltdown.
Corroon opposed his own party's legal challenges to the Republicans' attempt to switch candidates but characterized Ivory as a Johnny-come-lately who was simply trying to buy the election.
Independent Cook — a former congressman who had also unsuccessfully run for numerous other elected offices and championed various initiatives over the years — considered but ultimately decided against mounting his own legal challenge.
With only a month to campaign, Ivory came into the race with guns blazing, spending more money in four weeks than Corroon had spent in eight months. Both candidates dwarfed Cook's total contributions.
Ivory put up numerous billboards touting himself as "the write choice," went on the airwaves to push his candidacy, even instructed people on his Web site how to write him in before becoming the official GOP candidate.
That Web site, along with many of Ivory's billboards, last week sported a large "Now On the Ballot" announcement, even while continuing the Ivory write-in campaign pencil motif.
E-mail: aedwards@desnews.com