Dist. 300 Voters Elect Rice, Ward & Day
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Incumbent Du Quoin Community Unit District 300 Board of Education member Joe Day will be joined by Du Quoin farmer Charles "Beaver" Rice and Du Quoin Chief of Police Michael Ward following Tuesday's vote that saw one of the lowest turnouts in recent memory.
Perry County Clerk Kevin Kern did all that he could to franchise every voter into this election--early and absentee voting and staffing every single polling place in Perry County--but at the end of the day the turnout was poor--only 20.66 percent. "It's a shame to go to all of this work for a 21 percent turnout," Kern commented this morning. The turnout rose to upwards of 40 percent in some of the village elections.
The law requires that every precinct polling place be staffed by at least three judges, and Kern said the average cost to the county of any election is about $50,000.
The election brings a new mayor to the Village of Tamaroa along with a 1 percent added sales tax designed to restore the town's police department and fund community programs.
In the race for Du Quoin Board of Education, Rice received 624 votes or 17.93 percent of the total. Ward received 608 votes and incumbent Day received 558 votes. Patricia Ferrari received 500 votes. Michael Schneider received 441 votes. Aaron Wright received 427 votes and Rich Gossett received 323 votes.
Complete vote totals for all races appear on Page 2.
Incumbent Linda Fronek
Returned to Du Quoin Council
Incumbent Du Quoin Police and Fire Commissioner Linda Fronek was unopposed in seeking her first full term on the council. She was filling the unexpired term of her late husband, Richard Fronek. She received 637 votes.
Four New Board Members
on Pinckneyville HS Board
Pinckneyville Community High School voters elected four new members to its seven-person board on Tuesday.
They include Brian Kellerman, Dwight Bigham, Michelle Breslin and Larry Hardin.
Kellerman received 737 votes. Bigham received 616 votes. Breslin received 604 votes and Hardin received 551 votes.
In the Pinckneyville District 50 grade school election, candidates Deon Johnston, Marilyn Millikin, Keith Hagene and Scott Carney will all be seated or reseated on the board. Keith Hagene received 714 votes, Marilyn Millikin 629 votes, Johnston 620 votes and Carney 613 votes.
Community Consolidated 204
In Pinckneyville Community Consolidated 204, Jeff Suchomski, Marion Logan, Cynthia Opp and Roxanne Place will be seated on the board.
Suchomski received 180 votes. Logan received 171 votes. Place had 158 votes and Opp received 113 votes.
Lance Bedar Returns as Elkville Mayor
In the race for Elkville mayor, incumbent Lance Bedar defeated Linda Siefert 162 to 55.
Area Village Board Races
In the race for Cutler Village Board president, James Easton, Sr. defeated Joseph D. Loucks 74 to 57.
In the race for Willisville Village Board president, Clarence Warner was the lone candidate and received 134 votes.
In the race for St. Johns Village Board president, John Stanhouse defeated Lowell Lee by a vote of 35 to 28.