It took four rounds of balloting tonight before the final name was nominated by the precinct committeemen in Arizona’s 19th legislative district. On Friday, Maricopa County Supervisors will conduct private interviews with the three Republican nominees before making a final appointment decision at the regularly scheduled board meeting to be held next Monday morning.

The meeting was well attended by the party faithful with over 270 PC’s in attendance or voting by proxy.

All week long, the candidates had been calling and meeting in person to collect ballots or promises for votes. By the time the meeting was called to order, 11 names were ready to be placed into nomination. In the order of nomination and placement on the ballot were: Dave Johnson, Linda Stapley-Williams, Justin Pierce, Charlie Brown, Barbara Parker, Jackie Wick, Paul Petersen, Rex Griswold, Tom Wilkinson, David Farnsworth and Ron Bailly.

Each candidate gave a three minute speech. It was apparent from the applause that Justin Pierce was the clear favorite as he wrapped up his speech.

The first round of voting began with Justin Pierce prevailing and meeting the 50%+1 requirement (137) votes. Dave Johnson ran a close second place but did not receive the minimum votes to avoid the next round.

In the second round, Barbara Parker won the next spot on the list being sent to the Supervisors. Dave Johnson again, came close to the minimum required (136 votes) but was pushed into a third round of voting.

At this point it was clear that voting was following a slate of Pierce, Parker and Brown and as each round progressed, Johnson was the target to knock off. Each round of voting also saw other candidates drop out of the balloting.

During the third round of balloting, no one candidate met the minimum threshold to make the list but the gap between Brown and Johnson was closing fast. That led to the fourth and final round.

When the fourth round arrived there was an exodus of candidates from the ballot leaving Brown, Johnson and Petersen. At the last minute, Paul Petersen withdrew leaving the race to a Brown vs. Johnson bout.

It wasn’t until after 10:30 that the final name for nomination was made known. As the name Charlie Brown was announced, the crowd erupted in cheers. The final result confirmed that voting behavior was motivated by an anyone-but-Dave-Johnson vote matching the slate that had been making the rounds among the PC’s.

My predictions were off by one as I assumed that Dave Johnson had racked up all the proxies he needed to make the final cut. Nevertheless, two out of three ain’t bad when it comes to political observations and I’m willing to put it all on the table when it comes to the final appointment. Justin Pierce will be the next Representative from Legislative District 19 so I congratulate him in advance.

I’m sure that my fellow PC’s who also attended, have something to add so here’s your chance to chime in!

Congratulations to the winners!