Just five months after a presidential election that saw more than 60 percent of Crawford County voters cast ballots, Don Pyle said the county would be lucky to see half that total.
Pyle estimated that about 25 percent of Crawford County voters would turn out for today’s City and School Board General Election.
“You would like to see more,” said Pyle, Crawford County Clerk. “But that’s a pretty good turnout for city-school elections.”
The voters who do turn out should have a smoother time casting votes, Pyle said. In November, a glitch on a programming card tallied votes in some races incorrectly, eventually forcing a machine, then hand, recount of ballots in the Crawford County Attorney’s race. Pyle said his office was more careful in programming this go-round.
“We did a lot more extensive testing and training this time around,” Pyle said. “Our testing was designed to catch some of the problems that went undetected on the programming the last time.”
Pyle said his office also stepped up the number of ballots tested, from a couple hundred ballots to more than 1,100.
Two groups of voters will have extra questions to decide. Frontenac residents will vote on whether to continue a half-cent sales tax that is scheduled to sunset this year, while Girard voters will vote on a charter ordinance dealing with mayoral appointments.
“There’s some interest in the questions,” Pyle said. “But I think we have even more interest in some very competitive races. If you’re in Pittsburg, Frontenac or Girard, you can see signs all over the road.
“I hope everybody gets out and votes for the candidate of their choice and we have a really good turnout,” Pyle said.
Several races will be decided by write-ins with no candidates listed for the positions. Those races include Hepler mayor, Hepler City Council (which has five spots open), Walnut City Council positions 1, 3 and 5 and Northeast USD 246 Position 6. In addition, only one person has applied for McCune City Council, and there are two openings.
City candidates for election today include:
• Rudy Draper, Marty Beezley, Patrick O’Bryan, Tina Smith, John Ketterman, Connie McGeorge and Ed McCullough for Pittsburg City Commission.
• James Kennedy for Frontenac Mayor; John Zafuta for Frontenac Treasurer; James Loth and David Chiappetti for the First Ward City Council seat; Patricia Clinton, Jack Southard and Frank Papish for the Second Ward seat; Charley Quenoy for the Third Ward seat and A.J. Menghini for the Fourth Ward seat.
• Maurice Harley and Michael West for Girard Mayor; Sandra Hallacy, Susan Thom and Randy Thomas for First Ward Girard City Council seat; and Sharon Mattson and Don Vinardi for the Third Ward seat.
• Karl Wicker and Christopher Pommier for Arma Mayor; and Don Zornes, Ron McKee, Marvin “Buddy” Bualle, Rick Cummings and William Toschi for Arma City Council.
• Dale Thompson for Cherokee Mayor; John Lovell for Cherokee City Council Position 2 and Robert Jones and Mike Milford for Cherokee City Council Position Four.
• Paul Starne and Stephen Lechliter for Arcadia Mayor and James Krieger, Lou Dehn, Todd Trammell, Joyce Stephens, Gary Peterson, Richard Culbertson and Ernestine Berkey for Arcadia City Council.
• Michael Walden and Randy Jones for Mulberry Mayor; Brenda Howard for Mulberry Treasurer; and Hallace “Pete” Willey, Denny Rice, Timothy Pelican, Nancy Christian, David Bolton, Darvin Weaver and Jerry Prettyman for Mulberry City Council.
• Debbie Rennie for McCune Mayor and Cherie Thomas-Schenker for McCune City Council.
School district candidates for election today include:
• Albert Mendez, John Clark, Joan Fields and Dawn McNay for four-year terms and Todd Biggs and Howard Smith for two-year terms in Pittsburg USD 250.
• Adam Lusker, Lee Brunetti, Ryan Varsolona, LaDonna Pyle and Scott Holland in Frontenac USD 249.
• Jim Mengarelli and Marilyn VonSoosten for Position 4, Tony Stonerock for Position 5 and Patty Shanholtzer and Aaron Callaway for Position 6 in Girard USD 248.
• Joe Ulery, David Stricklin and Sundown Jacobs for Position 4; Jerry Alexander for Position 5 and LaDonna Hartman for Position 6 in Southeast USD 247.
• Travis Allen and Bonnie Hines for Position 4 and Kathryn Richard for Position 5 in Northeast USD 246.
Kevin Flaherty can be reached at kevin.flaherty@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 Ext. 134.
