(Posted Feb. 9, 2017)
By Kristy Zurbrick, Madison Editor
On Feb. 7, the Madison County Board of Elections certified candidates for the May 2 primary election. The deadline to file petitions was Feb. 1. No Democrats filed. Only Republican candidates for city of London offices will appear on the ballot.
The certified candidates are as follows:
• Council president—John Stahl is challenging incumbent Jennifer Hitt. The seat comes with a two-year term.
• City treasurer—Jason Schwaderer is seeking election to a full four-year term. The Madison County Republican Central Committee appointed him in the fall of 2016 to serve the remaining 15 months of Rob Slane’s term. Slane resigned as city treasurer to become county administrator.
• City auditor—Nicholas Szabo is seeking election to the remainder of the unexpired term of Katie Hensel. Szabo was appointed to the office in late 2015. Hensel had just been elected to a new four-year term, but resigned to take a job outside the county before starting the new term. The Republican Central Committee appointed Szabo to serve the first two years of the new term. He is now looking to complete the final two years of the term.
• Council Ward 1—Trint Hatt is running for re-election to another two-year term.
• Council Ward 2—Richard Hays is running for the two-year term.
Megan Douglas, currently an at-large council member, also filed to run for the Ward 2 seat, but the Board of Elections rejected her petition for having too few valid signatures. She had 22 valid signatures; she needed 25.
Richard Minner, the current Ward 2 council member, is not running for re-election.
• Council Ward 3—Lora Long is running for re-election to another two-year term.
• Council Ward 4—Rex Castle is running for re-election to another two-year term.
• Council at-large—Three at-large seats are up for election. Two individuals filed petitions, but only one received certification. Incumbent Joshua Peters will be on the primary ballot. Henry Comer will not. Comer’s petition was rejected for having two few valid signatures. He had 48 valid signatures; he needed 50.
Brenda Russell, currently an at-large council member, said she plans to run for re-election as an Independent in the November general election.
Write-in Candidate Deadline
Individuals who want to run as write-in candidates for the May 2 primary election must declare their intentions with the Board of Elections by Feb. 21.
For a chance to move on to the November general election, write-in candidates must receive at least as many votes as signatures they would have needed to collect had they not run as write-ins. For council ward seats, that number is 25. For all other city seats up for election in 2017, that number is 50.
Candidates who filed petitions but who were not certified, cannot run as write-in candidates. As such, Henry Comer and Megan Douglas, whose petitions were rejected, cannot run as write-ins in the May 2 primary or the Nov. 7 general election.
Independent Candidates
The deadline to register as an independent candidate for the Nov. 7 general election is May 1.
Voter Registration Deadline
The deadline to register to vote in the May 2 primary is April 3. For more information, contact the Madison County Board of Elections at (740) 852-9424. The office is located at 1423 State Route 38 SE, London (just north of Fairhaven School). Hours are 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
