County sees 18 percent turnout for city/school election
By Audrey Posten, Times-Register
Over 2,000 Clayton County residents cast ballots in the Nov. 2 city/school election. That was just roughly 18 percent of registered voters.
This election included 867 write-in votes, which Clayton County Auditor Jennifer Garms said was significant, but by no means the highest amount her office has seen.
“The 2019 city/school election had 1,741 write-in votes,” she explained. “More write-in votes are expected when there is no candidate on the ballot and even more so when a candidate announces a write-in campaign, as was the case with the city of Monona.”
Throughout the county, five mayoral and seven city council races relied on significant write-in votes, as either no or too few candidates were listed on the ballot.
In cities where a write-in appears to be the winner, Garms said the auditor’s office will contact the winner to see if they will accept the position.
“If the winner declines, we ask that they timely submit a letter of resignation so we may notify the next highest vote-getter. If no letter is received or the next highest vote-getter declines, a vacancy is created,” she explained.
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In Elkader, which had one of the most highly contested city council races, Anthony Hauber, Eric Grau and Deborah Schmidt were elected to fill three open seats. The individuals received 227, 187 and 167 votes, respectively, outpacing three other candidates. Bryton Rentschler earned 158 votes, while Daryl Koehn picked up 144 and Willis Patenaude 67.
The Central School Board was also a significant race, with five candidates vying for four seats. The top vote-getters were Jered Finley and Jared Funk, with 431 apiece, followed by Josh Embretson with 420 and Courtney Scherf with 340. Willis Patenaude earned 211 votes.
In other communities within the district, Elkport had no candidates on the ballot for mayor or three council seats. For mayor, Roger Bolsinger received all four write-in votes. Dianne Bolsinger, Jeff Hansel and Susan Steve each received four write-in votes for council.
Nioka Schroeder was re-elected mayor of Garber in an uncontested race, and Ronnie Willie (13 votes), R. Lyle Schroeder (12), Leroy R. Dugan (12), Ed Vanlennep (12) and Alicia Vanlennep (12) will fill five council seats.
In St. Olaf, Adam Meyer ran uncontested and was re-elected mayor. Marcus Kahrs (21 votes), Darwin Frana (18), Frank Kelly (17), Duane Bouska (17) and Heidi Glawe (13) were elected to five council seats.
Carrie Taylor will serve another term as mayor of Volga, after winning an un-contested race. Four candidates were on the ballot for five council seats. Alex Fettkether received 55 votes, Dennis Christeleit 48, Elaine Follon 43 and George Duff 42, while Crystal Nicholson earned 26 of 47 write-in votes for the final spot.
In the MFL MarMac School District, only four candidates were running for four school board seats. Joshua Grau was the top vote-getter with 332, followed by Jonathon Moser with 326, Aaron Schroeder with 324 and Gina Roys with 312.
The city of Monona had no candidates on the ballot, but resident Grant Langhus waged a write-in campaign right before the election and picked up 112 of 137 votes. Preston Landt and Tim Wright received 155 and 146 votes, respectively, to be re-elected to the Monona Council, and Bridget Schlein had 155 votes to fill a council vacancy.
In Farmersburg, Glenn Radloff was re-elected mayor. There were no candidates on the ballot for two open council seats or for one seat to fill a vacancy. Of 53 write-in votes, Kim Scherf received 20 and Daniel Torkelson 18 for the two council seats. Steve Watson secured 11 of 24 write-ins for the vacancy.
Jerry Schroeder will serve another term as Luana mayor, picking up 35 votes in an uncontested race. Luke Steege (28 votes) and Kevin Boddicker (23) beat out Erin M. Keehner (17) for two open seats on the city council.
In Marquette, Stephen Weipert will remain mayor. Only two candidates were listed for three council seats, with Brittany Hemmer earning 44 votes and Patricia Cornell 43. Tracy Melver netted 14 of 24 write-ins to fill the final seat.
McGregor’s mayor will also be unchanged, with Lyle J. Troester winning re-election in an uncontested race. The three council seats were uncontested as well—Janet Hallberg-Becker picked up 59 votes, Mel Wild 51 and Charlie Carroll 47.
Garnavillo saw the most write-in votes in Clayton County. With no one listed on the ballot, 197 votes were cast for three council seats. Thirty of those went to Mike Schmelzer, 17 to Luke Clefisch and 15 to Roger Balk. Those top three were followed by Shelley Dietrich with 14 and Jordan Helmrichs with 11.
