And then there were five.

Gina Miller decided not to seek a Sedona City Council seat, and she withdrew her name from consideration Wednesday, Jan. 6, the city of Sedona reported last week.

Miller was seeking a four-year term and had been vying for one of three seats with Barbara Litrell, Mike Ward, Dan McIlroy, Councilwoman Nancy Scagnelli and Jeffrey Siet.

Mayor Rob Adams and Councilman Jerry Frey are running against each other for mayor, and Councilman Dan Surber and Dennis Rayner are opposing each other for a two-year council term.

Attempts to reach Miller to find out why she withdrew were unsuccessful by press time.

While it will not affect the 2010 mayor race, voters will also decide this year whether they want to continue voting for mayor directly or go back to past practices where council appointed a mayor from its seated members.

Council candidates and their supporters begin putting up campaign signs Saturday, Jan. 9. Election laws state they can go up 60 days from the primary election.

Acting City Clerk Mary Gladieux said residents who will be out of town around Tuesday, March 9, can vote early starting  Thursday, Feb. 11.

Lynn Constabile, elections director for Yavapai County, said since the election is mostly a mail-in, early ballots can be picked up at the election office in Cottonwood or the city of Sedona on Feb. 11. She said early ballots are generally for residents traveling the month prior to the election.

Constabile said every registered voter in the city will receive a mail-in ballot from Yavapai County — including Sedona voters registered in Coconino County — after Monday, Feb. 15, and they can mail them in at any time.

She said this also helps early voters, which is much different from past elections where voters went to polling locations to cast ballots.

The city contracts with Yavapai County to handle the election, including making sure registered voters receive their ballots, Constabile said.

The county will begin tabulating results seven days prior to election day. Those will be posted on its Web site by 7:30 p.m. on March 9.

She said there will be ballots not counted March 9, mentioning voters could drop ballots in the box with minutes to spare.

Those votes will be counted Wednesday, March 10, and the unofficial results available by

5 p.m.

Constabile said while every election is different, she thinks about 75 percent vote a week beforehand, and the other 25 wait until March 9.

Results only become official when council canvasses the votes, which usually occurs at its next meeting.