Green ballots for democrats, yellow ballots for republicans in March 18 general primary

Before you get to the "Red States" (Democrats) and the "Blue States" (Republicans) in the general election you have to get to the colors of the ballots in the upcoming Perry County primary election.

An upcoming legal notice in the Du Quoin Evening Call announces that the colors for the primary election ballots will be green for democrats and yellow for republicans.

"It's always been that way," says Perry County Clerk Josh Gross. There's no science or politics to it. They just print well.

Gross said that despite the advent of touch screen voting machines, about half the voters still ask for a paper ballot. But the east of using touch screen machines and the resulting savings have taken hold.

"One thing we are doing this year," he said, is knowing the number of primary ballots printed then tracking the number of ballots returned (waste). "We will do that from now on and that should tell us about how many to have printed," he said.

Except for the race for Perry County sheriff, all other offices are going uncontested.

Incumbent democrat Josh Gross is the only candidate for county clerk.

Incumbent democrat Bill Taylor is the only candidate for county treasurer.

Incumbent democrat Jim Epplin is the only candidate for county board.

There are five candidates for sheriff and they include incumbent democrat Keith Kellerman and democrat challengers Dennis Cole and Jerry Speers. There are two republican candidates, Steve Bareis and Gale Reidelberger.