Lincoln County 2026 Spring Election results

In the statewide race for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice, Chris Taylor defeated Maria Lazar by a significant margin. Lincoln County voters bucked that trend, however, favoring Lazar over Taylor by a margin of just 203 votes — 3,582 to 3,379.

Merrill mayoral race
In Merrill, Mayor Steve Hass was re-elected by a wide margin, earning 1,431 votes compared to 466 votes for challenger and former mayor Derek Woellner and 66 write-in votes.

City of Merrill aldermanic and clerk races
The races for Alderman and City Clerk were uncontested. City Clerk Lori Anderson-Malm and incumbent Alderpersons Andrew Caylor, Michael “Gus” Caylor, Nathan Meyer, LaDonna Fermanich, Mark Weix Jr., and Rebecca Rutkowski were all re-elected. Jewell Holdorf and Derrick L. Sukow were elected as first-time Alderpersons in Districts 5 and 6, respectively.

County Board supervisor races
In contested County Board Supervisor races, Scott Doerr narrowly edged out Mark Bares in District 2 by a vote of 133 to 129. In District 10, Jesse Boyd defeated Josh Oxborrow 180 to 79. In District 17, Donald Nelson won with 259 votes to James Meunier’s 119.
Running unopposed, William Bialecki, Elizabeth McCrank, Scott Pergolski, Andrew Zelinski, Norbert “Nubs” Ashbeck, Donald Dunphy, Laurie Thiel, Don Friske, Randy Detert, Julie DePasse, Marguerite Lyskawa, Marty Lemke, Dana Miller, Andrew Tomaszewski, Joseph Dorava, Angela Cummings, Eugene Simon, and Greg Hartwig were all elected to represent their respective districts as County Supervisor.

District 13 write-in seat
District 13 had no candidates on the ballot, leaving the seat to be decided by write-in votes. The County Clerk reports that Al Bishop received three write-in votes, while Randy Greenfield and Trish Hoffman each received two. Eight other individuals — Tina Elvins, Dale Ernst, David Boshen, Debbie Yennie Price, David Long, Tom Jones, John Baltitch, and Paula Thomas — each received one write-in vote, for a total of 15 write-in votes cast. Write-in candidates will be contacted in order of votes received and offered the County Board Supervisor position; if the top vote-getter declines, the seat will be offered to the next candidate in line.

Municipal judge
Tom Hayden ran unopposed and was elected Multi-jurisdictional Municipal Judge.

MAPS Board of Education
On the Merrill Area Public Schools (MAPS) Board of Education ballot, two incumbents running unopposed were re-elected: Norbert “Nubs” Ashbeck with 2,840 votes and Kevin J. Blake with 3,224 votes. Voters were asked to choose three candidates, but only two names appeared on the ballot, prompting a number of write-in votes. A total of 220 write-in votes were cast. The MAPS Board of Education is in the process of reviewing the write-in candidates and vote counts and has not yet released that information. The candidate receiving the most write-in votes will be invited to serve as the third new member of the MAPS Board of Education, pending their acceptance.

Elsewhere in Lincoln County

Tomahawk mayoral race and referendum
In Tomahawk, Michael “Hob” Habeck was elected Mayor with 655 votes, compared to 277 votes for Jeffrey Koth. City of Tomahawk voters also rejected a referendum that would have increased the city’s tax levy for 2026 — to be collected in 2027 — to help fund day-to-day services and offset budget shortfalls from inflation.

Voter turnout
Lincoln County saw a total of 7,093 ballots cast out of 17,892 registered voters, for an overall turnout of 39.64%. The cities of Merrill and Tomahawk both outpaced that countywide average — likely driven by competitive mayoral races in both communities. The City of Merrill posted a combined turnout of 41.23% across its eight districts, with District 7 leading all city districts at 47.53% and District 6 posting the lowest at 32.65%. The City of Tomahawk saw the highest turnout of any municipality at 47.41% countywide, led by District 2 at an impressive 53.40%. Among townships, the Town of King came in highest at 45.69%, while the Town of Birch posted the lowest turnout in the county at 29.49%.