News story here.
While much of the election talk out and about concerns the governor’s race this November, petition packets for those wanting to run in the Consolidated Election next April 4th were available for the first time this week at the County Clerk’s Office; for offices that apply such as Community College Trustee, School Board, or Regional Board of School Trustees elections.
County Clerk Cathy Jenkins says it hasn’t been too busy this week, with about ten individuals stopping by so far. But if you decide to run for something, you can pick up your petition packets anytime between now and the December 19th filing deadline. And when the filing period starts on December 12th at 8 AM, it will probably be the usual: everyone showing up first thing in the morning, meaning ballot positions will have to be determined by lottery.
Another point Jenkins makes is, and we’ve all heard this in Government class; the Consolidated Election is the one you should really care about. So it’s disappointing when you have a light voter turnout.
AUDIO: And we historically do not see a large turnout on Consolidated, which is extremely unfortunate. Because with the Consolidated, these are actually the people that are going to be making decisions for your everyday life. And although all of elections are very important, the ones that will point specifically to your area, to your schools districts, to your towns; will be the people who are running in that election in April.
One floor down from Jenkins’ office in the Vermilion County Administration Building, Danville Election Commission Executive Director Sandy Delhaye says they’ve only got one page filled out so for of mayor and alderman candidates since their packets became available.
AUDIO: It’s been really slow. Normally by this time, we’d have a page or two filled up, and we’re still on our first page.
One thing Delhaye mentioned is that the number of mayoral candidates is the thing to watch. If there’s more than four, a February primary would need to be held. Right now there are only three: incumbent Rickey Williams, Jr; Jackie Vinson, and Robert Adams.
The filing period at the Danville Election Commission office begins on November 21st.
