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Township Races, Issues Decided; Write-ins Take Prominent Role

Voters decided several Livingston County township races and issues yesterday (Tuesday) at the polls including the two contested races in the Chillicothe Township. In that voting precinct there were two candidates for one trustee position: incumbent Frank Thompson and David Eller. After the votes were counted, Thompson was named winner of the race, earning 632 votes to David Eller’s 464. (There was one write-in vote). In the three-way race for Chillicothe Township board member, Ronald Hughes was re-elected with 669 votes. Brian T. Bowman followed with 626 votes and Brian Alexander received 556 votes. There was one write-in vote. Also in that township, Brandy S. Wedlock was elected as township clerk with 1,036. She ran unopposed for that position. There were three write-in votes cast.

In Jackson Township, there was a three-way race for two township board positions. In that race, Willie Hargrave received the most votes — 60, followed by incumbent Ray A. Summers, who earned 50 votes. The other candidate vying for a seat on the board, Jeffrey J. Hostetler, earned only 18 votes. Also in Jackson Township, incumbent Jamie L. Reeter ran unopposed for trustee and was elected with 60 votes; Sandra Skipper was also re-elected after running unopposed for the position of township clerk. She received 63 votes.

In the Village of Utica, three candidates were vying for two trustee spots available. There, Dusty Donoho and Jim Clemens received the most votes, 19 and 12 votes, respectively, to David Crowe’s 10. There were four people within Livingston County who have declared their candidacies as write-in candidates, meaning they announced their candidacies after the formal filing period closed. Their names did not appear on the pre-printed ballot, but that did not hinder Letha Graves, who successfully won the position of Chula tax collector over Ann M. Boon-Hamilton. Graves won 28 votes to Boon-Hamilton’s 12. Write-in votes were also responsible for the outcomes in the election for Chula’s south ward and north ward alderman spots, where no candidate had filed. For south ward alderman, Bob Triska earned four write-in votes (unofficially). John Boyles earned the most write-in votes for Chula’s north ward alderman’s position (unofficially).

In the Town of Ludlow, Alan Miles was the only declared candidate running for one of two available board member positions. The other available seat will be filled by Whitney Miles, who unofficially received 11 write-in votes.

In the City of Wheeling, Darrin J. Fravel ran unopposed for the mayoral post and earned 16 votes. Also in Wheeling, Jim Lowe was elected with five votes for the west ward position (there were two write-in votes). Kenny Mitchell, who ran unopposed, was elected to the east ward position. (There were also two write-in votes.)

Voters of the Livingston County Public Water Supply District No. 2 gave a resounding “yes” to the question of whether the district should have the authority to issue its waterworks system $4.5 million in revenue bonds to construct, enlarge, extend and improve the system. The question passed 160 to 37. In the Chillicothe Township and Rich Hill voting precincts, 120 votes were cast in favor of the question and 28 against. The question also received 26 favorable votes in the combined voting precincts of Cream Ridge and Medicine Townships, where 26 voters were in favor of the question and seven were against. There were seven absentee ballots cast in favor of the question and none against. In Ward 2 and Ward 3, the question earned 7 “yes” votes and two “no” votes.

Several townships also had road district questions on their ballots — all of which asked for continuations of current tax levies. In all four townships, the levy questions received voter approval as follows: Monroe: Yes 33, No, 6; Fairview: Yes, 30, No, 1; Mooresville: Yes, 34, No, 4; Wheeling: Yes, 27, No, 6.

Declared write-in candidates were also found in the Grundy County and Hale fire protection districts. However, a check with the Grundy and Carroll County Clerk’s offices today revealed that information on those races would not be released until the results had been certified later in the day. The Grundy County Rural Fire Protection District had two open positions with Andy Burress and Michael Kirchner as declared write in candidates.

Westphal, Hughes, Doughty Get Nods for Health Center
Published: Wednesday, April 8, 2009, C-T

Livingston County voters elected Robin Westphal, Darlene Hughes and Doug Doughty to the county health center board of directors in Tuesday’s election.

Doughty is returning to the position while Westphal and Hughes are taking the places of Elaine Case and Linda Wolf who chose not to seek re-election. Doughty received 1,132 votes, Westphal, 1,085, and Hughes, 1,056. A fourth candidate, Kristen Ward, received 766 votes.

Doughty, who was appointed to the board a few years ago, currently serves as the board’s chairman. The board of trustee terms are four years and those elected will now join Harry Lockridge and Sandy Hart on the board, whose terms will expire in two years.