Consolidated Election is just days away
On Feb. 28, Jerry Causer defeated incumbent Don Hicks in the Consolidated Primary Election. This was the only contested race in the primary but it has set up a new makeup of the Pontiac City Council.
That new look will come to fruition after Causer is officially elected to the Ward Three seat following the Consolidated Election, which takes place April 4.
A specimen ballot for the April 4 election may be found on the Livingston County website.
Causer, a former alderman from Ward Three, defeated Hicks 32-26 in the primary to regain a seat on the city council. Causer ran for mayor when his term on the council was up in 2021.
Causer will be running unopposed, as will three current council members — Frank Giovanini (Ward One), Kelly Eckhoff (Ward Two) and Jayme Bradshaw (Ward Four). Ward Four will also have a newcomer in Scott Cranford, who is running unopposed for the unexpired two-year term. Maggie Clark is currently filling the term formerly held by Curt Myers, who stepped down last year. Barbara Howard is also a newcomer and running for the Ward Five seat currently held by Brian Gabor, who will be moving out of the ward.
Most of the community government candidates on the ballot are running unopposed. This includes Fairbury, Campus, Chatsworth, Cornell, Cullom, Emington, Flanagan, Saunemin and Strawn.
However, Dwight, Forrest and Odell will have competitive races.
At Dwight, there are five candidates for three seats on the village board. Marla Kinkade, Randy Irvin and Pete Meister are running as incumbents while Josh Jahn and Tim McKeller are the challengers. Brian Berta is running unopposed to fill an expired two-year term.
There will also be five candidates running for three open village board seats at Forrest. The incumbents are Jerry Austman, Leslie Defries and Kenneth Sinnett. The challengers are Odell Collins and Dennis Quigley.
At Odell, four candidates are vying for three seats on that village board. Jacob Negray is the challenger against incumbents Rodney Morris, Tom Russell and Brian Verdun.
Part of the city limits of Streator extends into Livingston County, thus allowing for some county residents to vote in its election. Streator does have races for mayor and for an unexpired two-year term on the city council.
Regarding Livingston County school boards, there are six districts with competition, including both of Dwight's.
In the Dwight Common School 232 (grade school), Jaime Mallaney, Michael Cornale, Mark Christenson and Chuck Trainor are on the ballot for the three seats. There are also three seats open on the high school board with Jacob Tjelle, Chris Bunting, Kim Frauli, Matthew Kargle and Susan Legner challenging for those positions.
In Pontiac, there are four seats, plus an unexpired two-year term seat, up for grabs in District 429. No candidate is listed for the two-year term, but Heather Sancken, Kurt Iskrzycki, Brooke Comincioli-Fenton, Stacey Shrewsbury and Jesse Mackinson are challenging for the four-year terms.
Rooks Creek has one seat-unexpired two-year term available with Scott Drilling and Colt Gragert in the running.
At Tri-Point, five candidates — Ted Conkling, Julia Saathoff, Kristine Haag, Michael Berry, Catherine Weber — are in the running for the three available four-year terms. There is an unexpired two-year term position available with no candidates running.
At Woodland, Jeremy Adams, Brad Boldt, Alison Wissen and Chad Gilkerson are running for the three four-year term seats.
The rest of the grade school and high school districts in the county will have unopposed candidates or no candidates.
There is a referendum on the ballot as Reading Township is looking to provide ambulance service. The referendum asks if the “Reading Fire Protection District should levy a special at a rate not to exceed .30% of the value of all taxable property within the district as equalized or assessed by the Department of Revenue for the purpose of providing and ambulance service?”
April 4 is the official election day but early voting has been taking place. April 1 will be the last Saturday for early voting at the off of County Clerk Kristy Masching. Also, should there be anyone interested in being an election judge, contact the county clerk's office.
This article originally appeared on Pontiac Daily Leader: Consolidated Election is just days away — April 4
