Write-ins confirmed, county breaks Lorimor tie

With races in smaller cities left up to the names voters chose on their own, write-in votes are being counted and deciding races across Union County.

Union County’s board of supervisors reviewed and accepted the first tier canvas from the city/school election held earlier this November. This process confirms write-in votes, in which several races across Union County were won through write-in.

Additionally, due to a tie, the board of supervisors picked through random selection who would serve on a Lorimor City Council seat.

In Arispe, two names received three votes each to be named to an open city council seat. Both Ernie Abell and Mason Fry received three votes. This tie was broken when confirming Mason Fry’s residency, where he confirmed he no longer lived in Arispe and had an Afton address. Ernie Abell was voted to the seat.

Lorimor, with no names on the ballot in the mayoral race, elected Shauna Wethington to the position through nine write-in votes, beating out the closest candidate, Jeanette Schwabe, by a single vote.

In the city council race, both incumbent Karen Tucker and Tim O’Neil, who is serving as mayor until the next year, received 21 votes each for an at-large city council seat.

Through random selection, Karen Tucker was chosen as the winning candidate. She will join fellow incumbents Jody King and Mathew Lenhart on the council.

Thayer’s local elections had no names on the ballot for five city council seats and their mayor. Incumbent mayor Corey Mitchell, through write-in, was reelected to the position.

The same applies to council incumbents Deana Welcher, Lacey Catalano and Les Vanderplum. Bridget Mitchell and Rebecca Hildreth were also elected to the council. All five seats were named through write-in votes, with no candidate receiving more than nine votes.

The first canvas confirms races in Afton and Creston as well. A few races in local cities will have their write-ins and other results confirmed in a second canvas.

Shannon City’s mayoral and city council races and school district races in Creston, East Union, Lenox, Murray, Orient-Macksburg and Southwestern Community College will be confirmed in a future county meeting.