Thursday, April 12, 2007

Provisional ballots counted Monday by commissioners

by Kenneth Lassiter

Provisional ballots counted Monday by county commissioners in their canvassing of last week’s elections broke a deadlock in the McLouth city council election but a game of chance will be necessary in one drainage district.

County Clerk Linda Buttron said the county considered 17 ballots but counted only 10 as valid votes. Two of the ballots counted in the McLouth city council elections, as candidates Myra Harwood and Gerald Sullivan had tied for the third and final open seat with 124 votes each. Both of the provisional votes went Harwood’s way as she took the third seat. Sharon Lobb Johnson and Charles Karmann also picked up two votes to extend their winning totals to 152 and 143, respectively.

No changes occurred in other races as a result of the counting of provisional ballots. Richard Malm, who was a write-in for a school board position in Valley Falls USD 338, was an unexpected double winner in the elections as seven voters wrote in his name for the Meadowlark Extension District board of directors.

Susan Voelker took another seat on the board with 1,266 votes. Buttron said she would contact Malm to gauge his interest in the spot after Monday’s commission meeting.

Among write-ins, Jody Lockhart was elected to the position 1 seat in USD 338 with 86 votes and Malm was elected to position 3 on the board with 46 votes. Bill Reed was elected via write-in vote to position 7 on the Jefferson County North USD 339 school board with 20 votes compared to 12 for David J. Noll and 6 for Mark Wilson. Lori Coyle received 68 write-in votes for position 1 on the Perry-Lecompton USD 343 school board but wasn’t close to winner Matt Erickson, who had 230 votes. Jennifer Morgison was elected to position 2 on the USD 343 board with 112 write-in votes.

In the races for drainage and watershed directors, Jim Guffey, Alex Hemme and Charles Smith were chosen for Thompsonville Watershed No. 6 with vote totals of 7, 6 and 6, respectively.

A clear panel of winners failed to come from the Muddy Creek election as Russell Winsor took one of three open seats with 10 votes. One vote each went to Rod Bigham, Jim McMillan and Elmer Drain, so Buttron said a game of chance would be necessary to break the tie there for the other two open seats. Charles Price, Gary Starr and Winsor were elected as Kaw-Delaware drainage directors; Randy Bigham, Kent McPherson and Bob Bigham were elected as directors for Grantville; Bruce Berns and Daryl Mellard were elected as directors for Stonehouse; and Berns was elected to direct the Kaw Half Breed drainage district.