Elections set in Cambridge City, Milton

Cambridge City and Milton will have elections this fall to elect town leaders.

Those communities join Richmond in needing to conduct an election because they now have contested races with candidates from different political parties.

Dublin, Centerville, Fountain City, Economy, Boston, East Germantown and Greens Fork will not have elections.

Aug. 1 was the deadline for town residents to join the November ballot. Richmond’s ballot was finalized a few weeks earlier because cities must follow a different calendar set by state election officials.

Milton

Milton now has seven candidates for five at-large town council seats.

Six Republicans (Phillip Allen Edwards, Joy May, John Noland, Hugh D. Payne, Jr., Segdrick Satterfield and Dwight Smith) have filed for council, along with one Democrat, Larry Joe Harris.

Currently, the council includes Democrat Robert Simon, who did not file to run, along with Noland, Edwards, Payne and Satterfield.

The five who receive the most votes will be elected.

Milton’s current clerk-treasurer, Terry Craig, now has a challenger within the Republican Party after Amy Suzanne Smith also filed to run.

However, a challenge has been filed against Smith’s candidacy, and a hearing will need to be scheduled, according to Tara Pegg, who works in the county voter registration office. Wayne County’s election board was to meet and discuss the situation Monday.

If more than one person from the same party is running for the same seat, a party will conduct a convention by the Aug. 21 deadline to narrow the field.

Voting during a convention is restricted to town residents who are registered to vote and have voted under the party that is conducting the convention.

Cambridge City

Cambridge City voters also need to choose who will represent them on council. Incumbent Republican Jeff Mardis faces Gary Cole, who filed as an independent, in the District 5 race. Steve Sorah, a Republican who currently represents District 5, did not file to run again.

All registered voters who live in Cambridge City can select Cole or Mardis.

Incumbent Michael Amick, a Republican, faces no opponent in District 3.

Jim King, who is not currently in office, is running unopposed as an independent for District 4.

Other council members currently representing Cambridge City are Jim McLane and Debbie McGinley, both independents.

Cambridge City’s Clerk-Treasurer Sherry Ervin, an independent, faces no opposition in the fall.

Richmond

All Richmond voters within city limits can choose one of four candidates for mayor (independents Howard Price and David Carpenter, Republican Ron Oler, and incumbent Dave Snow, a Democrat). They also can choose any three of six candidates for council at-large seats, Democrats Claudia Edwards, Ron Itnyre and Carl Rhinehart III and Republicans Jane Bumbalough, Justin Burkhardt and Jerry Purcell.

In addition, District 2 and District 5 council races are contested. District 2 incumbent Lucinda Wright, a Democrat, faces a challenger in Gary Miller, a Republican. Republican Anne Taylor is challenging incumbent Jeff Locke, a Democrat.

Clerk-treasurer Karen Chasteen, a Democrat, faces no opposition.

East Germantown and Economy

Only four candidates filed for five East Germantown council seats (Republicans Ronald Lammott, JoAnna Lynn Reisert and Steve Mills and Democrat Donald Fisher). Carleene Collins, a Democrat, faced no opposition for clerk-treasurer.

Just two candidates filed for Economy’s council (Republicans Shirley Williams and Jeff Jackson).

If no one filed for a seat, current officeholders will hold over, Pegg said, and the holdovers will stay on the board until they resign or are elected. 

Register to vote

Voter registration is available at locations including Wayne County courthouse, Bureau of Motor Vehicles license branches and offices for Family and Social Service Administration’s Division of Family and Children and workforce development.

Registration is due by Oct. 10 to vote in the Nov. 7 election, and at the polls, voters must present an Indiana driver’s license or photo ID, military ID or U.S. passport.

For additional information about registering to vote, call 765-973-9304 or 765-973-9226.