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Polygamous Town Could Elect First Non-Church Officials

The Salt Lake Tribune

Next month's municipal election in Hildale, Utah, could give the town its first mayor and City Council members who don't claim affiliation with a polygamous sect.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Donia Jessop is running for mayor after being nominated at an unofficial convention attended by mostly people who don't follow Warren Jeffs, leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

The sect is a radical offshoot of mainstream Mormonism, which disavowed polygamy more than 100 years ago.

Hildale and neighboring Colorado City, Arizona, are undergoing a court-ordered overhaul of their municipal operations in response to a 2016 jury verdict that found the towns had discriminated against people who weren't members of the sect.

Jessop faces incumbent Mayor Philip Barlow.

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