Preliminary Apr. 6 election results
TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
In the only contested statewide race, Jill Underly emerged the winner and will become the next Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of Wisconsin, with 526,286 votes (57.66 percent of the votes cast). Deborah Kerr received 386,392 votes, or 42.34 percent. [Statistical source: Wisconsinvote.org] Underly also led the race in Lincoln County but only had an 84 vote lead over Kerr locally when the polls closed here.
Wisconsin Court of Appeals for District III
Two candidates were vying for the one available spot on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals for District III.
Lincoln County voters cast 59.21 percent of their votes for Judge Gregory B. Gill, Jr. and only 40.59 percent of their votes were cast for Rick Cveykus. Lincoln County results were consistent with the final ballot count. Gill was the winner after the ballots were counted throughout District III, getting 123,468 votes (55.21 percent of the ballots cast) as compared to 100,168 votes for Cveykus (44.79 percent). Judge Gill will fill the vacancy left by Judge Mark Seidl when his term expires July 31, 2021. [Statistical source: Wisconsinvote.org]
Town of Merrill gets new Chairperson
In one of the area’s few competitive races, Darrel Dengel and Scott Streich faced off to be the next Chairperson for the Town of Merrill. Streich was elected bo the position by a nearly 18 percent margin. Dengel got 273 votes (40.99 percent) but Streich won the race with 392 votes (58.86 percent).
Lincoln County Town Supervisor races decided
In townships across Lincoln County, most candidates on the ballot ran unopposed. But three townships had three candidates each, vying for two open Town Supervisor positions on each of their Town Boards.
• In the Town of Russell, Marty Sosnovske (62 votes) and David Heller (61 votes) won against Nathan Roggenbuck (56 votes) to become the next two Town Board Supervisors.
• In the Town of Skanawan, Michael J. Lucas (80 votes) and Walter H. Horabik (71 votes) won against John S. Lazarz (64 votes) to become the next two Town Board Supervisors.
• In the Town of Wilson, Allen Russ (61 votes) and Dan Sennett (51 votes) won against Timmothy D. Ketcham (46 votes) to become the next two Town Board Supervisors.
Merrill Area Public Schools Board of Education
Four seats on the Merrill Area Public Schools (MAPS) Board of Education (BOE) were up for grabs in the Apr. 6 election, with five candidates in the running. Ultimately, Kendra Osness, Brett Woller, and Marie Volpe were all re-elected to the Board for another term, and Chad Krueger was voted in to fill the spot previously held by Jeremy Ratliff, who declined to run for re-election, and Dallas Seiwert was defeated. Ultimately, there were only 440 votes separating the fourth and fifth place contenders who garnered 13.25 and 18.49 percent of the votes, respectively.
Lincoln County votes “No” to exceeding tax levy limits
The majority of Lincoln County voters (56.51 percent) said “No” to the advisory referendum question on the Apr. 6 ballot, asking if the County should be allowed to exceed levy limits by $700,000 per year from 2022 to 2026. The increase would have funded Highway Department operations and road maintenance. While the additional $700,000 per year levy would have had an estimated $26.40 tax impact on a $100,000 home, 2,752 Lincoln County voters were against the idea and only 2,118 (43.49 percent of voters) voted “Yes” on the referendum. The “No” votes had the majority by 634 votes.
All election results will be verified by the appropriate Board of Canvassers at various levels of government on Monday.