A small voter turnout combined with write-in votes to create some interesting results in Tuesday’s election for posts on boards and councils in Lyon County towns and in Chase County.
At Admire and Allen, write-in candidates received the lion’s share of the votes in the races for seats on the respective city councils.
David D. Winkler defeated Ronald H. Kuhn at Admire on a vote of 19 to 18 when the polling was over. Write-in candidates, however, received 25 votes, or 40.32 percent of the votes cast. No individual write-in candidate received more than 17 votes.
Write-in candidates received 16 votes in the Allen city council race, where Robert Williams defeated Norman C. mason 14 to 13.
Mayors at Americus and Neosho Rapids have yet to be identified. Neither city had an official candidate for mayor.
A total of 29 votes were written in for mayor in Americus and a total of 46 written in at Neosho Rapids.
Neosho Rapids elected five city council members: Richard E. Givens and Brian Shank, each with 55 votes; William Smith, 54 votes; Larry Masenthin and Wayne Parsons, each with 51 votes. A sixth candidate, Julia A. Buckridge, received 13 votes and write-in votes totaled 3.
Lea Hamlin defeated Dale D. Grimsley 34 to 32 for Americus City Council Position No. 4, and Jeffrey L. Shirley received 59 votes as he ran unopposed for Position No. 5.
Marsha K. Akins, who ran unopposed, received 56 votes with one write-in in her campaign for Hartford City Council No. 2. A total of 12 write-in votes were cast for Hartford Position No. 4, with Linda l. Foster receiving 40 votes.
Mike Davis received 45 votes to lead candidates for the three open seats on the Olpe City Council. Leslie Farr received 43 votes, Leon Pimple received 38, and write-ins received a total of 34 votes.
Lonnie D. Atchison defeated Shelly A. Norling on a vote of 25 to 15 for mayor of Reading. Write-in candidates for mayor received 22 votes.
Todd Hensley received 52 votes for city council member, Marc Atchison received 30, and write-in votes totaled 24.
Lester Modlin was elected mayor of Bushong, with four votes and no write-in votes.
Other Bushong city council members elected were Aaron C. Atchison, Frederick W. Fechter, Manuel L. Jackson, Jeff Modlin, and Gary Smith. Each received four votes, with no write-in votes cast.
Candidates who filed for three seats on the Chase County Board of Education also faced challenges from write-in candidates who announced their candidacies for the seats but did not file formally.
The district has experienced controversy created primarily by the school finance formula’s punitive effect on the district budget. Because of the vast acreage involved in the property tax base, and the small numbers of students in the consolidated schools, the district is considered wealthy when, in fact, it is not.
The current school board, according to an earlier report, has decided to eliminate some teaching, counseling and administrator jobs, as well as trimming or cancelling other programs not mandated by state or federal government.
Despite what one Chase Countian called a “tense weekend,” incumbents won all three of the seats that were up for election.
William Luder received 134 votes to write-in Kristen Studer’s 67 for the District No. 1 post.
In District No. 2, Kay Lauer received 97 votes compared to the 61 votes received by her opponent, Paul Jones. Jones had filed his candidacy with the Chase County clerk, according to the clerk’s records. Write-in candidate Larry Kohr received 26 votes.
Bud Higgs defeated write-in candidate Gwen Eidman 94 to 79 for the District No. 3 seat.
In the Southern Lyon County school district, incumbent Kent Grieder defeated challenger Robyn Bechtel on a vote of 162 to 104. The two ran for a position created after the district was realigned.
Others elected were: Craig A. Clark, 235 votes, Position 1; Jeanette Schmidt, 227, Position 2; William C. Veatch, 217, Position 3; and Kenny Hamman, 245, Position 5.
The names of write-in candidates were not included in the Lyon County election results.
Write-ins received three votes for Position 1 in Southern Lyon, eight votes for Position 2, and three votes for Position 3. No names were written in for the races for Positions 5 and 6.
In the North Lyon County school district, three candidates — Sally Helton Anderson, William “Bill” Leffler and James Scott Davis — ran unopposed for three open positions.
Anderson received 80 votes for Position 4; Leffler, 95, Position 5; and Davis, 62, Position 2.
Each North Lyon position drew a small number of write-in votes, with seven write-ins for Position 4, one for Position 5, and five for Position 6.