The Park City School Board ballot continues to shrink after candidate Ron Huggins announced he was withdrawing from the election this week.
School Board Candidate Anne Bransford also dropped out of the race in June.
Huggins, a nominee in District 2, beat out Eric Oberg in the June primary. He was set to face candidate Nancy Garrison in November.
The school board race drew a lot of attention in June, with two out of the three seats going to a primary and four candidates competing for the District 3 seat.
In an email to The Park Record, Huggins said he was withdrawing from the race less than three months before the General Election due to personal reasons and did not want to comment any further.
According to Summit County Clerk Kent Jones, even though two candidates for the school board will run unopposed for their seats, they still must appear on the ballot.
“Nancy Garrison (District 2) and Moe Hickey (District 1) must still be on the ballot in November even though they are unopposed because someone can still officially file as a write-in candidate up until 30 days before the election,” he said. “So if a resident sees that there is only one person on the ticket and that changes their mind and makes them want to run they still can.”
Jones added that if someone files as a write-in their name will not appear on the ballot because the ballot is already set. Candidates for the school board also cannot change which seat they are running for since it is based on what district they live in.
“I have seen candidates drop out this close to an election before,” Jones said. “But it is not common for candidates to run unopposed.”
Garrison said that she is disappointed that she and the other candidates will not be able to “hash out the issues with each other” but will not change the direction of her campaign.
“I will still have neighborhood meetings and gather input from residents in my district in order to be a conduit for what they want the school board to be,” she said. “I am building a constituent-based platform and have heard that people want the board to be fiscally responsible but still develop globally competitive students.”
Garrison added that she is not surprised by the amount of attention the school board race has been garnering since the spring.
“The board was facing some challenges and a lot of people wanted to come forward and try to fix them and see the district exceed the accolades we have had before,” she said.
Residents in Park City School Board Districts 1, 2 and 3 will vote for candidates during the General Election on Nov. 6.