Prescott City Council unanimously approves Aug. 5 primary canvas, discusses clarifying charter language

Prescott City Council on Aug. 18 approved the official canvas of the Aug. 5 primary election by a 7-0 vote and spent extended time discussing whether the city charter's language for calculating a candidate's "majority of the valid ballots cast" should be clarified to avoid future confusion.

The matter before the council was ministerial: the city clerk presented the official canvas of the primary election held Aug. 5, 2025, and the council was asked to validate the results within the 20-day timeframe required by recent state law changes. The city attorney summarized an outside counsel opinion concluding the city's longstanding calculation method is permissible and consistent with past practice.

City Attorney: The council heard from the city attorney, who said outside counsel addressed three questions and recommended continuing the existing method. The attorney said the city charter prevails over state election statutes where the charter addresses election method and that outside counsel "recommended we continue with the process that we've used since at least 02/2010," noting also that the county "isn't set up to give us those numbers of ballots with 0, votes."

Why it matters: The calculation method determines whether a candidate who receives a majority in the primary is declared elected (and thereby avoids the general election). Several council members and public commenters said inconsistent terminology between the Prescott City Charter and the Yavapai County Recorder's public tallies has created public questions about how the threshold is calculated.

Details and debate: Councilwoman Freeworth noted strong voter support for a home rule proposition (identified in the meeting as Prop 482), saying the final result was "76.8%" and crediting an outreach video created by an intern, Sara Saldana, which the council said received about "over 2,900 views" — roughly "almost 17% of the voters" in the election, according to remarks during the meeting. The attorney added that one practical reason to keep the city's calculation method is consistency with past practice dating to at least February 2010.

Councilman Montoya, who said he was a candidate in the election and lost, urged the council to respect the certified results: "you agree by the rules before the game starts, and at the end of the game, you accept the results," he said, adding that certifying the election was "an important duty and important part of our oath of office."

Public comments included concerns that the charter's undefined phrase "valid ballots" does not match the county's published returns. Ralph Hess, identified in public comment as a Prescott resident, said the city charter "does not... define, valid ballots," and called attention to the interaction between the county recorder's vote reporting and the charter language. Howard Mckennick urged the council to consider ranked-choice (instant-runoff) voting as an alternative to separate runoffs. Ken Bennett, a resident who said he has experience certifying elections, urged preserving the "spirit" of the current rule while considering clarifying language.

Action taken: Councilman Montoya moved to approve the official canvas for the August primary; a second was voiced and the council voted 7-0 to approve the canvas. The council did not take formal action to amend the charter at this meeting, but council members and staff discussed placing a charter-amendment discussion on a future agenda. The city attorney said staff could "put that on the agenda quickly" if the council directed it, and council members expressed interest in starting that process.

Next steps: No charter amendment was adopted at the Aug. 18 meeting. Council members asked staff to prepare options and to place the issue of possible charter language changes on a future council agenda for formal consideration and, if needed, voter action.