What’s on the ballot? Breaking down the Nov. 8 general election

HILLSDALE COUNTY — Voters in Michigan will have full ballots in the November 2022 midterm election. Ballots will include statewide, congressional, municipal and school board positions, along with a handful of statewide proposals.

Here's a rundown of candidates and topics on the ballot in the Hillsdale area Tuesday, Nov. 8. To view your sample ballot, visit michigan.gov/sos/elections.

Statewide and Congressional

A trio of prominent statewide offices — governor, attorney general and secretary of state — will be on November’s ballot.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, is seeking a second term. She faces Republican Tudor Dixon, who emerged from a crowded primary in August. Third party candidates include Mary Buzema (Libertarian), Donna Brandenburg (U.S. Taxpayers), Kevin Hogan (Green) and Daryl Simpson (Natural Law).

Democrat Dana Nessel is seeking reelection as attorney general against Republican Matthew DePerno. Joseph McHugh Jr. (Libertarian) and Gerald Van Sickle (U.S. Taxpayers) are running as well.

Candidates for secretary of state are Democrat Jocelyn Benson, Republican Kristina Karamo, Libertarian Gregory Stempfle, Christine Schwartz of U.S. Taxpayers and Larry Hutchinson Jr. from the Green Party.

Three statewide proposals to amend the state’s constitution will also be decided in November.

Proposal 22-1 aims to change the state’s term limits. If adopted, the proposal will limit state legislators to 12 years of service, which can be served entirely in either the state house or senate, or in a combination of both. The proposal also adds financial disclosure requirements for legislators, the governor, secretary of state, attorney general and lieutenant governor.

Proposal 22-2 deals with voting laws. If approved, the constitutional amendment would add nine days of in-person early voting, allow voters to verify their identity with photo ID or a signed statement, allow voters to use a single application to vote absentee in all elections, require state-funded absentee-ballot drop boxes and postage for absentee applications and ballots, make it so post-election audits may only be conducted by election officials, require military or overseas ballots to be counted if postmarked by election day — and more.

The final proposal, Proposal 22-3, deals with reproductive rights. It would add a constitutional amendment to “establish new individual right to reproductive freedom” for all decisions about pregnancy including childbirth, abortion, postpartum care, contraception, prenatal care and infertility. It would also invalidate state laws conflicting with the amendment.

More: Michigan's Proposal 1 would change term limits, require financial disclosure for lawmakers

More: The abortion rights amendment made Michigan's ballot. Here's exactly what it says

Voters will also choose two members of the state board of education, two regents of the University of Michigan, two trustees for Michigan State University and two governors of Wayne State University.

Michigan Legislature

In the newly formed 5th Congressional District, incumbent Rep. Tim Walberg’s democratic challenger, Bart Goldber, is vying for votes against the conservative representative.

Hillsdale County has been split into two separate state senate districts with Republican Joseph Bellino facing off against Democrat Katybeth Davis for the 16th Senate District and Republican Jonathan Lindsey facing off against Democrat Scott Starr for the 17th District.

State Rep. Andrew Fink is seeking a second term against Democratic challenger Andrew Watkins in the newly formed 35th District.

Hillsdale County

Bob Godfrey is running unopposed for re-election to the county road commission and Doug Ingles, Steve Lanius, Mark Wiley, Brad Benzing and Brent Leininger are all running unopposed for county commissioner seats. Lanius beat out incumbent Kathy Schmidt in the Aug. 2 primary election for the 2nd District commissioner seat.

Municipal

In Hillsdale, Adam Stockford is seeking a second-term as mayor against Rondee Butcher, a newcomer to the local politics world. Gerry Arno of Jonesville, Melani Matthews of Reading and Jessica Bills of Litchfield are all running unopposed for re-election as mayor in their respective cities.

In Jonesville, Christopher Grider, Brenda Guyse, George Humphries, Roger Sands, Todd Shroats and David Windle will battle at the ballot box for three council seats.

And in Litchfield, Aleca Aponte, Don Bannick, Kevin Collins and Rick Siebert are vying for one of three council seats.

Charles George and Chad Penney are running for two council seats in Reading.

While Greg Stuchell and Will Morrisey are running unopposed for re-election as Hillsdale City Councilpersons, in the city’s Ward 3 Cindy Merritt and Gary Wolfram are sparring for a seat at the council table and Joshua Paladino and Penny Swan are eyeing a seat for Ward 4.

Richard Beem and David Stevens are both seeking to lead the village of Montgomery while John Castle is looking to oust incumbent Richard Beach in the village of North Adams as village president.

In Waldron, Allison Harwood, George Kintner, John Newton, Stephen Newton, Mark Price, Angela Promo and Phyllis Worsley are running for six village trustee seats.

In Pittsford Township, the library is seeking a renewal of an operating millage at .93 mills through 2043 which would generate nearly $50,000 a year.

The North Adams-Jerome School District is seeking a renewal of their sinking fund millage at a rate of .6795 mills through 2032 which would generate just over $100,000 a year in revenue.

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The Pittsford Area Schools District is seeking an operating millage 18 mills for three years to generate $530,000 in revenue.

The Reading Community Schools are seeking a similar operating millage at 18 mills through 2030 to generate approximately $92,000 a year.

School Boards

Melissa Lautermilch and Gary Morrison are running uncontested for two six-year terms on the Camden-Frontier Schools Board of Education. Patrick Flannery and Dan LaRue are both running for two similar terms on Hillsdale's school board.

Abraham Graves and James Halley are both running for six-year terms on Jonesville Community Schools Board of Education and Tamara Down, Michael Miller and Austin Signor are running uncontested for three four-year terms on Litchfield's Board of Education.

In North Adams, only two of three school board openings are being sought; Trinity Sawyer and Diane Todd have both filed for election to four-year terms.

Lindsey Bryner, Bradley Cramer, Jacob Drawe and Mike Pidd are all lobbying for three open seats on the Pittsford Area Schools Board of Education.

And in Reading, Randy Blythe, Gina Fosdick, Becky Pavka and Ben Wheeler are all running for two open seats on the school board.

Judicial Races

A handful of spots on the bench will be contested in statewide races. Two seats on the Michigan Supreme Court are up for election, with incumbents Richard Bernstein and Brian Zahra facing Kyra Bolden of Southfield, Paul Hudson of Kalamazoo and Kerry Lee Morgan of Redford.

Absentee ballots have already been sent out by municipal clerks.

For a full and comprehensive list of what to expect on your local ballot, contact your municipal clerk’s office.

— Mitchell Boatman contributed to this article. Corey Murray is a staff writer for The Hillsdale Daily News who can be reached by email at cmurray@hillsdale.net. Follow him on Twitter: @cmurrayHDN.

This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: A slew of contested races and millage proposals will be decided Nov. 8