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2020 Election

Surprise elections have grown with city itself

Only dozens voted after incorporation as town in 1960

Posted 7/30/20

Thanks to extensive research from City Clerk Sherry Aguilar, who doubles as the city’s official historian, a quick reconstruction of Surprise's election history can be done.

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2020 Election

Surprise elections have grown with city itself

Only dozens voted after incorporation as town in 1960

Posted

Thousands of Surprise voters have sent back early mail-in ballots, while thousands more are expected to cast a vote on primary election day, Tuesday, Aug. 4.

Just how many will do so remains to be seen, but history has shown that voting in Surprise has grown along with the population as the city enters its 60th year of incorporation.

The way the elections have been run have also come a long way from the farming community of just a few hundred people that turned into its own town at the beginning of the 1960s.

Thanks to extensive research from City Clerk Sherry Aguilar, who doubles as the city’s official historian, a quick reconstruction of its election history can be done.

At its Dec. 22, 1960, incorporation as a town, William Williams was selected as the first mayor, Doyle Moore was picked as clerk pro-term and Don Blankenship, Harold Morgan and Richard Ring were selected to fill out the five-person town council.

The town’s first election was held nearly five months to the day after its incorporation, when only about 1,500 residents lived here.

Mr. Williams was elected to continue as the town’s first mayor, while Mr. Moore continued on as clerk of the town council. Mr. Ring and Mr. Morgan stayed on the council, but Grover King replaced Mr. Blankenship.

Mr. Williams, who owned the town’s only grocery store at the time, was elected for another term in 1963.

The 1965 election brought in a new mayor, Harold Yingling, and three new members to the council.

By the time of the 1967 primary election, 192 residents had cast ballots. Mr. King was selected mayor, while Mr. Yingling moved down to vice mayor.

George Cumbie, who ultimately served as Surprise’s mayor for more than 20 years, won his first election to the council that year.

The year also marked when the state increased the council membership from five to seven members. Edward Ring and Ernest Scritchfield were appointed to fill out the council.

No city records are available for the 1969 election, which was Mr. Cumbie’s first winning a council seat, where he was appointed mayor.

He ended up winning re-election every other year between 1971 and 1987.

In the 1975 election, Surprise saw a first when two council positions were determined by the flip of a coin when both Noberto Allen and Mr. Scritchfield received 108 votes each. Mr. Allen came up lucky.

By the end of Mr. Cumbie’s run in the late 1980s, Surprise had grown to at least 6,000 residents and nearly 700 people cast ballots in the March 1989 primary election.

Future mayor Joan Shafer became the first woman elected to the City Council a year later when she earned the most votes out of 872 cast.

By 1991, Surprise had graduated to city status. In June 1993, voters passed a law for direct elections of the mayor by nearly 7 to 1.

Ms. Shafer won the first of those elections in 1995 becoming the city’s first female mayor. A then-record 1,502 people voted in the May 1995 general election.

In just four short years, nearly double that voted in the 1999 primary election, when Ms. Shafer was elected to a third two-year term as mayor. For that election, the City Council had a year earlier passed an ordinance to divide into election districts.

By the end of the century, Surprise had 8,688 registered voters and a population around 30,000 people.

In 2007, Surprise began allowing voting by mail. In the first one where it was used, 16,212 voters cast ballots.

Sharon Wolcott started her seven years as mayor with a victory in the November 2011 general election. She defeated incumbent mayor Lyn Truitt by more then 10% of the vote.

Current mayor Skip Hall won his first election to the City Council in a recall election in March 2008. He was appointed as mayor in November 2018 when Ms. Wolcott resigned.

Current District 1 Councilman Roland Winters was first elected to his post with a win in the August 2013 primary election.

District 4 Councilman Ken Remley got his first taste of politics when he won the 2016 primary election over incumbent Rachel, Villanueva.

The 2018 primary election was the first time voters approved of District 2 Councilwoman Nancy Hayden and District 3 Councilman Patrick Duffy, both of whom were appointed to their positions initially because of vacancies.

Vice Mayor Chris Judd as well won his first election in the 2018 primary, beating incumbent Todd Tande in District 6.

District 5 Councilman David Sanders was appointed to the position in January 2019 when Mr. Hall left the seat to take over as mayor.

Editor’s Note: Jason Stone can be reached at jstone@newszap.com. Visit yourvalley.net.