EDWARDS — After the second round of ballots in the Eagle County vacancy voting, the race has tightened.
Candidate Matt Scherr, who collected 17 votes in the first round had 13 votes in the second round. Elyse Howard collected 9 votes in the first round and 11 votes in the second round.
After the second round of voting, candidates Meighan Lovelace, Dylan Heaney and Claire Noble were dropped from consideration.
Now it is time to see how exhaustive the Eagle County Democrats county commissioner selective process will be.
The process will continue until one of the candidates has collected a simple majority — 19 votes. Scherr collected 17 votes in the first round. Out of 44 eligible vacancy committee members, 37 are participating in tonight’s event. After each round of voting, the candidate with the fewest number of votes will be dropped from the next ballot.
A candidate forum preceded the voting, which gave the prospective commissioners the opportunity to weigh in on topics ranging from health care to housing. Event moderator Jon Stavney noted all seven candidates represented the next generation of home-grown Democratic leaders. “I can already see tonight Eagle County really can’t go wrong,” he said.
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Even before the voting start, one candidate was out of the running. Earlier today Albert Ewing, a long-time resident of Eagle-Vail and the president of Ewing Engineering withdrew his name from consideration. The remaining seven candidates are:
Megan Gilman: Since 2011, Gilman has been a member of the Holy Cross Energy Board of Directors. For the past seven years, she has also served as the Holy Cross Energy representative for the Colorado Rural Electric Association Board of Directors.
Dylan Heaney: An area manager for Beaver Creek Resort, Heaney has also worked various roles for Vail Resorts retail operations since 2007. He is a Vail Mountain Rescue volunteer and a member of the Vail Resorts Epic Promise Committee.
Elyse Howard: Since 2005, Howard has been the director of development for Habitat for Humanity Vail Valley. She formerly worked for the Vail Valley Chamber & Tourism Bureau and for the 2002 Colorado Democratic Coordinated Campaign.
Kim Langmaid: Currently a member of the Vail Town Council, Langmaid is the founder of Walking Mountains Science Center in Avon. Since the center’s inception in 1997, she has worked various management positions and she is currently the vice president and director of sustainability programs for Walking Mountains.
Meighen Lovelace: As the operator of Mountain Harvest Consulting, Lovelace has worked with Live Well Colorado, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, National Farmers Union and the Colorado Health Foundation on numerous state and federal policy initiatives.
Claire Noble: Currently serving as the program manager for the Vail Symposium, Noble is also a co-host of Good Morning Vail on TV8 and a contributing writer for the Vail Daily. She is a former U.S. Air Force officer who has worked as a trainer, designer and instructor.
Matt Scherr: Currently serving as mayor for the town of Minturn. Since 2012, Scherr has operated Leff Field Solutions, a small organization consulting firm. From 2004 to 2012 he was the executive director of the Eagle ValleAlliancese for Sustainability.
This story will be updated as the ballot results are announced.