Hardy wins seat on council

When the count was done Tuesday night, the primary race wasn't finished, at least not in Boulder City.

Council candidate Dr. Joe Hardy found out Wednesday that he can pack in his campaign and take his place as the city's newest councilman.

And candidate Ned Morang, who finished fourth, discovered he won't appear on the June 8 ballot.

City Clerk Vicki Mayes spent a long night going over the election returns from Tuesday's primary and verified that Hardy tallied enough votes to be elected to one of the city's two open council seats.

Candidates who win one vote more than 50 percent in the primary are elected outright to the council. "With only about 4,500 people voting Hardy got over 50 percent with his 2,615 votes," Mayes said.

A total of 8,292 votes were cast, but the actual number of voters was only 4,509, Mayes said. Voters were allowed two votes in Boulder City's at-large council primary.

Hardy didn't realize he had won the seat until Wednesday.

"I had heard about this last night, but it was pretty crazy and I didn't really understand it," Hardy said. "I'm done campaigning for myself, but I will continue to campaign against the land-lease ballot question, for truck rerouting and a new library."

With Hardy in, the remaining council race comes down to incumbent Bryan Nix and challenger Tom Whelan.

"I think this will help to make this a clear-cut decision for the voters," Whelan said. "Instead of four candidates for voters to think about, they can really concentrate on two and make the best choice for Boulder City."

Nix nearly joined Hardy in winning a seat with his total of 2,028 votes. He needed 223 more votes to regain his seat.

Whelan took 1,479 votes. Morang received 897.

Morang said he will support Nix in the upcoming election because Nix is against the land-lease ballot question.

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