By Jeremy Ratliff
Editor
While the Tuesday, April 7 election proved historic statewide due to the unprecedented volume of votes cast by absentee ballot (nearly 130,000 counted), the Lincoln County Board of Supervisors notched yet another race culminating with historic results.
Long-time District 5 Supervisor Frank Saal Jr. filed for non-candidacy this past spring. As his seat didn’t garner any interest for official candidacy, the ballot would end up with two registered write-ins; Nathan Peterson and Christine Zuelsdorff. However, Zuelsdorff would later withdraw her candidacy.
When the preliminary voting numbers were released by the Lincoln County Clerk’s Office last Monday, April 13, the count for District 5 reflected 10 write-in votes. But the count didn’t indicate how many write-in candidates had received votes; lending to a bit of mystery headed into the Thursday, April 23 Board of Canvass. When the final count was given, the end result would prove to be a first for any Lincoln County Board race. in recent history.
Six undeclared write-in candidates would go on to tally votes; including Art Lersch (1);Shannon Collins (1); Randall Quinn (1) and Tasha Jaeger (1). Saal, Peterson and Adam Norman each received two votes; resulting in a three-way tie. Being Saal had declared non-candidacy, the tie breaker between Peterson and Norman would come down to a matter of a coin-flip. Given Peterson had a representative on-site, he was given preference for calling the flip. Peterson would not only win the coin toss, but as a result would secure the District 5 Supervisory seat. through 2022.
“I cant believe it’s never happened before!” Peterson said with a laugh when asked of his reaction to winning his race via coin toss.
“I never really thought about it I guess.”
As he explains further, Peterson advised his representative to call “heads” if given the chance.
“You always go heads is how I see it, you never go with tails,” he jokes. “In all honesty, I was just elated to hear I had won. I had a good feeling about it beforehand but it was a good feeling to know I was successful. To think about the idea of politics coming down to a coin toss, that’s just unbelievable.”
This year marks the second consecutive election cycle where Lincoln County Board races have made the books.
In 2018, two races came down to margins of 6 votes or less and resulted in recounts. The challenger in each of the races; Districts 10 and 20, proved successful. Also that year, 18-year old Calvin Callahan (District 13) became the youngest Supervisor in the history of the board, after defeating his opponent 87-62.
While preliminary results of the April 7 races remained unchanged after official canvassing last week; four candidates garnered additional votes. Locally, re-elected MAPS Board of Education member Kevin Blake picked up two more votes along with newly elected board member Ron Liberty being credited with an additional vote. Victorious state supreme court justice Daniel Kelly scooped up 4 additional votes, as did President Donald J. Trump; picking up four as well.
Below are the official results from contested races, announced last week:
Merrill Common Council-
District 6-
Norbert “Nubs” Ashbeck (Incumbent)-124 votes
Landis Holdorf (Challenger)-81 votes
Write-In-1
District 1-
Paul Russell-201 votes
Becky J. Meyer-122 votes
Write-In-1
District 5-
John Van Lieshout-138 votes
Shannon Collins-106 votes
District 6-
Mike Rick-103 votes
Kyle Gulke- 84 votes
Write-In: 1
Lincoln County Board of Supervisors-
District 6-
Norbert “Nubs” Ashbeck (Incumbent)-124 votes
Landis Holdorf (Challenger)-81 votes
Write-In-1
MAPS Board of Education-
Paul C. Proulx-3,250 votes
Kevin J. Blake-3,123 votes
Ronald Liberty-2,5656 votes
Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court:
Daniel Kelly-4,020 votes
Jill J. Karofsky-3,402 votes
Write-In-8
Presidential Preference:
Democratic Party-
Joe Biden-2,558 votes
Bernie Sanders-841 votes
Michael R. Bloomberg-56 votes
Write-In: 3
Republican Party-
Donald J. Trump-3,777 votes
Uninstructed Delegation-46 votes
Write-In: 8
Voter turnout was about average for Lincoln County, with 34% of Lincoln County voters weighing-in. Of 22,441 registered voters in the county, 7,708 ballots were cast.
Uncontested races from Tuesday, April 7:
County Supervisor District 1
William R. Bialecki . . . . . . . 261 98.86
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.14
County Supervisor District 2
Bob Weaver . . . . . . . . . . 218 98.20
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.80
County Supervisor District 3
Elizabeth McCrank. . . . . . . . 163 98.19
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.81
County Supervisor District 4
Joshua Wendt . . . . . . . . . 195 98.48
County Supervisor District 7
Greta Rusch. . . . . . . . . . 303 99.34
County Supervisor District 8
Christopher Heller . . . . . . . 148 100.00
County Supervisor District 9
Don Friske . . . . . . . . . . 284 99.30
County Supervisor Dist 10
Jeremy Ratliff. . . . . . . . . 276 99.64
County Supervisor District 11
Hans Breitenmoser, Jr. . . . . . . 236 97.52
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.48
County Supervisor District 12
Paul Gilk . . . . . . . . . . 306 98.39
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 5 1.61
County Supervisor District 13
Calvin Callahan . . . . . . . . 297 99.00
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.00
County Supervisor District 14
Brian Hafeman . . . . . . . . . 361 99.72
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 1 .28
County Supervisor District 15
Robert J. Lee . . . . . . . . . 177 100.00
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 0
County Supervisor District 16
) Michael Loka . . . . . . . . . 250 100.00
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 0
County Supervisor District 17
Kevin Koth . . . . . . . . . . 304 98.06
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 6 1.94
County Supervisor District 18
Patricia Voermans. . . . . . . . 427 99.77
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 1 .23
County Supervisor District 19
Julie L. Allen. . . . . . . . . 303 99.34
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 2 .66
County Supervisor District 20
Dora Gorski. . . . . . . . . . 256 96.60
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 9 3.40
County Supervisor District 21
Eugene R. Simon . . . . . . . . 263 98.87
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.13
County Supervisor District 22
Timothy Panfil. . . . . . . . . 288 98.97
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.03
Merrill Town Brd Supervisor
Tony Fischer . . . . . . . . . 550 59.27
Cutler Nowak . . . . . . . . . 374 40.30
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 4 .43
Merrill Alderperson District 2
Steve J. Hass . . . . . . . . . 225 99.12
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 2 .88
Merrill Alderperson District 3
Rick Blake . . . . . . . . . . 139 96.53
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 5 3.47
Merrill Alderperson District 4
Steve Osness . . . . . . . . . 175 97.77
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.23
Merrill Alderperson District 7
Mark Weix, Jr.. . . . . . . . . 239 99.58
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 1 .42
Merrill Alderperson District 8
Steve Sabatke . . . . . . . . . 154 99.35
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 1 .65
For more information on the April 7 General Election visit http://election.co.lincoln.wi.us/