Bazzell narrowly eliminated in Iowa City city council primary

Jared Bazzell was narrowly eliminated from the City Council race in Tuesday's primary, which saw historically low voter turnout

Bazzell, a 22-year-old University of Iowa student, received the fewest votes among five at-large candidates in the primary. He was just seven votes shy of fourth place, according to preliminary final results from the Johnson County Auditor's Office.

Anyone receiving votes can ask for a recount, and Bazzell said he does not intend to call for one. The results are unofficial until the canvass of the votes Thursday.

The top four candidates move on to the Nov. 3 regular election, when two will be elected to the council. The top four vote-getters Tuesday, in order, were: Susan Mims, Terry Dickens, Jeff Shipley and Dan Tallon.

Voters could vote for two candidates.

A total of 1,872 votes were cast out of 48,350 registered voters for a turnout rate of 3.87 percent.

That's a record low, with the previous mark set in the 1999 Iowa City primary, with 2,475 votes for a turnout rate of 6.86 percent.

Mims, 52, a financial planner with Heartland Investment Associates, lead the way Tuesday with 1,399 votes, or 75 percent.

“We'll still continue to campaign hard for the next month, and hopefully we'll get the same results,” she said.

Dickens, 54, co-owner of Herteen & Stocker Jewelers, came in second with 1,320 votes, or 71 percent.

“I know it's the top two still, but we want to get out and meet as many people as we can and get door to door as much as we can so we can get more voters out,” he said.

Shipley, 21, and Tallon, 20, are undergraduate students at the UI, like Bazzell. Tuesday's results show they have a lot of ground to make up in the next month.

Shipley collected 275 votes, or 15 percent, and Tallon received 202 votes, or 11 percent.

Shipley and Tallon both said they want to get more students to the polls for the regular election.

Iowa City Unofficial Primary Results