Both Brian Boatman and Reese Melville had reasons to be happy and at the same time very worried about the results of Tuesday’ primary election in Wendover.
While just nine votes separated the incumbent and the challenger, it was the challenger Boatman who came out on top.
Unfortunately for Boatman bragging rights to being the top vote getter in a primary are only just that. Both he and Melville will face off again in November.
Still West Wendover’s juvenile probation office did garner the plurality, albeit a small one Tuesday.
Boatman’s vote total along with the now eliminated Wiskerchen’s should cause alarm in the Melville camp simply because 60 percent of the primary voters voted against him. While the same can be said about Boatman, Melville especially as the incumbent should pay attention. It is an election rule of thumb that voters who cast ballots against an incumbent in a primary are very likely to stay opposed in the general. Boatman the winning challenger therefore has a much better shot of appealing to Wiskerchen voter than Melville. And since primary voters are almost guaranteed to show up at the polls this November, Boatman at least on paper to have a decided advantage over Melville.
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Primary voters are however not the only ones who will show up at the polls. In fact using the historical yard tick the number of November voters will be at least double that of June.
“A 30 percent voter turnout is pretty good for a primary,” said Elko County Clerk Carol Fosmo. “But with this being a presidential year the turnout in November should be well over that.”
In 2008 the last presidential election cycle voter turnout was close to 80 percent in West Wendover. If that holds true to this November for every ballot cast in June there could be as many as three in November. The good news for Melville is that November will be a whole new ball game and one in which the incumbent is usually favored. Since the Eastline township was established no elected Justice of the Peace has ever lost a reelection campaign.
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Another thing in Melville’s favor is that historically candidates coming from law enforcement such as Boatman have seldom if ever won a Justice of the Peace race.
A reason for that lack of success may be simple since all criminal trials in the local justice court involve the police, voters may have traditionally felt that having a former cop on the bench could be loading the dice not in the civilian’s favor.
The extremely narrow margin of Boatman’s primary victory should also give the challenger pause given the length of his campaign. Boatman announced his intentions in December a month before the filing window even opened. Unofficially he made it clear to practically anyone who listened that he would be a JP candidate over a year before then.
Shortly after filing Boatman began to campaign, setting up a facebook and webpage, going door to door, and handing out bumper stickers.
The effort paid off at least in the short run and when he had his yard signs delivered he did not have a shortage of supporters to happily put them up.
Melville appeared to be caught flat footed tied up with a three year old ethics case, the incumbent found himself out flanked not only by Boatman but also by Wiskerchen.
Privately Melville bristled at the political signage which he said violated a city ordinance. Although the judge’s opinion was backed up by city Clerk Anna Bartlome no tickets were issued to the johnnies come early.
When asked whether he was aware of the ordinance Boatman said he was but questioned the constitutionality of the ordinance since his signs were on private property.
The city has taken no action against either Boatman or Wiskerchen perhaps for that very reason.
“Really whether its constitutional or not should not be a consideration,” Melville argued. “Especially for someone who says he wants to be Justice of the Peace. Interpreting the constitution is way above our pay grade. Our job is to apply the law as written by city, county or state legislative bodies. Are there some ordinances I might personally disagree with? Sure there are. But I, or any other Justice of the Peace or Municipal Court Judge, do not have the power to throw out a case because we think the law is unfair or unconstitutional. And we (judges) certainly shouldn’t willingly violate an ordinance because we think it is unconstitutional. That is for a much higher court to decide.”
“Even if my opponents don’t,” he explained. “I will abide with the spirit and the letter of the ordinance even if it costs me the election.”
However Melville said he believed his strict adherence to city code should be an issue in the election.
“A local judge has a lot of power,” he explained. “We can issue warrants for searches, we can order arrests and we decide guilt or innocence. We are supposed to be bound by the code of judicial ethics and not disregard it because we don’t agree with it. I think the voters should ask themselves if they want to elect a man who even before he became judge ignored the law because it was inconvenient for him.”
“A lot of people thought I wasn’t running and asked me why I wasn’t putting up signs,” Melville said. “ I told them that I would as soon as I legally allowed to. City ordinance clearly states that no campaign signs are to be put up until 40 days before the election. I am just abiding by the law.”
In actuality Melville only began to put up his signs and actively campaign about a month before the election giving both Boatman and Wiskerchen a four month head start. The fact that Boatman could only manage nine more votes over Melville from that four month head start should cause him more than a little trepidation going into November.
Another issue that should cause Boatman stomach trouble is any new revelation regarding his character reference for convicted killer Toni Fratto. A self inflicted wound Boatman wrote the letter well after the campaign began and since it became public knowledge in April saw his support dwindle day by day.
In fact the letter may have been a boon to Wiskerchen by voters who would never vote for Melville but couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Boatman.
