1 contested seat decided in Logan County's primary

[March 21, 2012]  Yesterday's primary election was to decide party candidates for the consolidated vote in November.

In Logan County positions there was only one contest. Three Republican candidates sought two District 2 county board seats. Incumbents Robert Farmer, with 625 votes, and Jan Schumacher, with 533, won over newcomer Daniel Meyer, who tallied 359.

The Logan County Board is currently organized by six districts, with two representatives per district. Every two years one seat in each district is decided for a four-year term. This is done to keep one person from a district who has a two-year history on the board, which provides representative continuity.

However, every 10 years, the county population decides if it will choose its representation at-large or by district. In 2002, the county went from at-large to district. As such, 2012 is the 10-year decision year. In 2010, seats that came open were for two-year terms so that all 12 county seats would expire on Nov. 30, 2012.

All 12 current board members sought new terms in yesterday's primary. Half are completing four-year terms. In bold are those finishing a two-year term:

• District 1:
  Charles Ruben 465, Bill Martin 468

• District 2:
  Schumacher, Farmer
  (See voting results above.)

• District 3:
  Rick Aylesworth 557, Andy Meister 481

• District 4:
  Dave Hepler 426, M. Gene Rohlfs 405

• District 5:
  Arthur Anderson 373, Pat O'Neill 333

• District 6:
  Terry Carlton 395, Kevin Bateman 407

All 12 candidates won on a Republican ballot. These would be the next board, constituting no change in board membership unless a Democrat should file and win in the consolidated election in November.

Following the consolidated election, the board always reorganizes, choosing its chairman, vice chairman, parliamentarian and deciding other two-year reviews such as policies and procedures. At that time, two- or four-year terms will be randomly decided.

Other county positions for four-year term decisions were:

• Circuit clerk: Mary Kelley 3,517

• State's attorney: Jonathan Wright 3,575

• Coroner: Robert Thomas 3,470

All were unopposed Republicans with no Democratic candidates.

Utility aggregation question

Also on this ballot, a referendum question on electric aggregation was put to voters in most areas of the county. Electric aggregation won favor in Logan County 695-570, Atlanta 136-91, city of Lincoln 1,181-785, city of Mount Pulaski 170-69, Emden 60-23 and Middletown 32-15. It failed in San Jose for lack of a vote either way.

[By JAN YOUNGQUIST]