5 seeking 3 seats in Hagerstown

Hagerstown now has five candidates for three at-large town council seats, and town voters will decide Aug. 13 who will represent them.

Leslie Rogers filed to run for Hagerstown’s council before the Aug. 1 deadline. She faces Chris W. Blaase, Allan Bullock, Bradley Robert Clark and Dillon Pitcher. No one filed for other parties.

For small towns such as Hagerstown, when more candidates from one party file for a particular race than the number of available seats, parties must conduct nominating conventions.

The Republican Party convention will be at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 13, at the Hagerstown fire station, 151 N. Plum St. Voters arriving on time will hear the candidates speak before voting with paper ballots, said Gary Saunders, chair of the Wayne County Republican Party.

Residents within the town of Hagerstown who submitted Republican ballots in the previous primary elections in which they voted are eligible to vote in the convention, Saunders said.

Having a convention means the town’s candidates won’t be on the fall election ballot if the County Election Board unanimously votes not to have a town election.

Incumbent Clerk-Treasurer Julie J. Neal, a Republican, and Hagerstown Town Judge Susan Bell, a Libertarian, face no other candidates.

In addition, Dublin’s three council incumbents up for election this year, Brietta Pitcock, Dan Wicker and Nathan Ulerick, have filed to run again. No one is opposing them.

School board reminder

Northeastern, Western Wayne and Nettle Creek have contested nonpartisan school board races. 

• Northeastern: Patrick Barker and Angela “Angie” G. Smith, who aren’t currently on the board, both filed for District B.
• Western Wayne: Jenni Risch and Todd A. Patterson filed for the at-large District D seat. Neither is currently on the board.   
• Nettle Creek: Candace M. Tramel and Julie Blaase both want to serve District A. Blaase currently serves as an at-large member, while Tramel isn’t on the board. 

Candidates for other seats for those districts and for Centerville-Abington and Richmond Community Schools are unopposed this fall.

Voter registration

Prospective voters need to register or update their address or any other outdated information by Oct. 7 at Wayne County Courthouse. Applications also are available at indianavoters.in.gov.