? Overall turnout was low across the county.
Last week?s spring general city and school election saw some surprises with voters casting their ballots for change.
According to Tina Spen?cer, Marion County election officer, some of the write-in candidates even prevailed over filed candidates.
?It will be interesting to see what direction these cities go with their new leadership,? she said.
A total of 1,113 people voted in the election for a 14 percent turnout, she added.
?The number of eligible voters in Marion County school boards and cities (including some out-of-county voters that vote on our USDs) was 8236,? Spencer said.
?This was a pretty low turnout,? she said. ?Unfortunately, this is not uncommon for our city/school elections. Sure would like to see it higher,?
In breaking down voter turnout, most cities had higher percentages of ballots cast than areas where people were voting on school board or uncontested races.
Even though the overall turnout was 14 percent, some towns saw much higher numbers, Spencer said.
The highest turnout was in Lost Springs at 66 percent with the lowest turnout in Hillsboro at 6 percent.
The other towns included Burns with a 30 percent; Florence (Wards 1 and 2 combined), 46 percent; Goessel, 28 percent; Lehigh, 18 percent; Lincolnville, 17 percent; Peabody, 32 percent; Durham, 40 percent; Ramona, 26 percent and Tampa at 50 percent.
In addition to voter percentages, the following candidates and number of votes included:
Florence
In the race for mayor, incumbent Mary Shipman with 52 votes was defeated by Robert Gayle with 65 votes.
In addition to Shipman and Gayle, two write-in votes were also tabulated during the canvass Monday by the Marion County commissioners.
Another incumbent was also defeated in the Florence first council with Paul Reilly Reid receiving 32 votes to Daniel Ludwig?s 20.
Although Trayce Warner in the second ward had 36 votes, a write-in campaign for Rick Turner came up short with 24 votes.
Goessel
Another contested race involved the Goessel City Council and how five candidates were vying for three positions.
The winners included Rollin Schmidt with 71 votes, Jeffrey W. Boese with 60 votes and Dean Snelling with 55 votes.
The other two candidates were James W. Wiens with 29 votes and Sam Griffin with 25 votes.
In the USD 411 race, four positions were open to include Darla Meysing with 125 votes, Maynard Knepp with 126 votes, Dan Miller with 124 votes and Kyle Funk with 132 votes.
Peabody
Retaining his seat as Peabody?s mayor, Larry K. Larson defeated opponent Stephen Rose 126 to 76 respectively.
In addition, six write-in votes were received.
Another contested race was within the Peabody City Council with five candidates vying for three positions and one candidate, Tom Spencer, was a write in clinching the third position with 87 votes.
The other two winners were Travis Lynn Wilson with 107 and Megan Holt with 159. The other two candidates running, but were unsuccessful in their bid for a seat included Joan M. Berg with 67, Timothy Caldwell, 52, and Kenny Rogers with 77.
USD 398 Peabody had four positions open. The winners in that race included Terril Eberhard with 194 votes, Timothy Earl Caldwell with 106 votes, Glendon Parks with 198 votes and Alicia Morse with 198 votes.
Spencer noted that regarding all four candidates the results are not final. She said she is waiting for final certification from other counties.
Centre USD 397
Three school board seats were open, but only two were contested.
Jesse Brunner with 27 votes defeated Amber Peterson with 20 votes.
In the second race, Terry Deines with 32 votes defeated Michelle D. Hajak.
Mark Heiser won his seat with 27 votes.
Marion
In the USD 408 race four seats were open and the winners included Timothy Young won with 222 votes; Nick Kraus with 193; Jeremiah Lange with 250 votes and Ronald Duane Kirkpatrick Jr. with 148 votes.
Marion had no city races this spring, but voters will consider candidates for the school district, Spencer said.
Hillsboro
Five seats were open in USD 410. The winners included Timothy Kaufman with 122 votes, Roderick Wayne Koons with 120, Jared Jost with 122 and John O. Dalke, a write-in, won the tie-breaker with one vote. Kimberly Klein will fill the unexpired term with 41 votes.
Mayor Delores Dalke received 92 votes and will retain her position for another term.
Also uncontested were two council seats to include Robert Watson with 49 votes and David A. Loewen with 55 votes.
Lost Springs
Tish Keesling was elected mayor by write-in receiving 12 votes.
Five seats were open on the Lost Springs city council. The winners included Joseph A. Zinn with 12 votes, Jessica L. Moenning with 10 votes and three others were write-in votes.
They were Frank Wirtz with 20 votes, John Zeiner with 16 votes and Connie Jenkins with 10 votes.
Lehigh
No one chose to run in Lehigh?s race for mayor, but David Terrell received 14 votes as a write-in.
The same was true regarding the five open seats on the council. The candidates elected to the council included Claude (Jim) Dawes with 13 write-in votes, Marion Fontenot with 12 write-in votes, Glen George with 12 write-in votes and Eldon Kaiser had 13 write-ins. Nick McLaughlin, who received 13 votes was not qualified to hold office, according to Spencer.
Lincolnville
Three council seats were open in Lincolnville with only one candidate, Joseph H. Vinduska, on the ballot.
Vinduska received 17 votes and two other write-in candidates, Sherri Pankratz and Letizia Vinduska received 7 and 3 write-in votes respectively.
Durham
Gary Gerringer was the only candidate who filed for the mayor?s position receiving five votes. The winner in the race was a write-in candidate, Mike Sorenson with 24 votes.
In the race for council, five seats needed to be filled. According to Spencer, the results saw Alan M. Accardi with 17 votes, R. Gene Duke with 16 votes, Wendell D. Cook, 15 votes, Edward Flaming, 13 votes and Travis Cook, a write-in, with eight votes.
Burns
No candidates threw their hats in the ring for mayor of Burns, but Ryan Johnson won as a write-in candidate with 16 votes.
Roland Boesker received 21 votes for one of the two city council seats with Jason Miller, a write-in, receiving 11 votes. However, Spencer said Miller is not currently qualified to hold the office.
Ramona
Byron Noeth received 21 votes to retain his position as Ramona?s mayor.
The winners of the five council seats included Ben Calvert, 21 votes; Amber Lopez, 19 votes; Arthur Stroda, 21 votes; Alan J. Svoboda, 16 votes and James Thompson, 17 votes.
Tampa
The city of Tampa?s may is Timothy Svoboda with 26 write-in votes.
The two council positions went to Ty Peterson with 31 votes and Russell Kerbs with 14 votes.
Cottonwood Valley
Three candidates, John (Rocky) Hett, Darvin Markley and Alan W. Hett, received 23 votes, 24 votes and 25 votes respectively for the three open seats with the Cottonwood Valley Drainage District.
According to Spencer, this is a taxing district regarding drainage of the Cottonwood River.
