Majority of local elected county office races one-sided

By Benjamin Cox on October 12, 2018 at 10:38am

The official ballots for Cass, Greene, Morgan, and Scott counties have been released.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 6th. The four contestants in the 2018 Illinois gubernatorial race are Republican incumbent Bruce Rauner against Democrat J.B. Pritzker, Libertarian Kash Jackson, and conservative party candidate Sam McCann. Citizens of Illinois will also choose Attorney General, Secretary of State, Comptroller, and state Treasurer. McCann most recently served Illinois as the 50th legislative district state senator. The 50th district state senate seat will be filled by Republican Steve McClure, who is running unopposed.

In fact, guaranteed wins will be a common theme in this election. Of 13 county official positions [Clerk/Treasurer/Sheriff/State’s Attorney] to be voted on in the Cass/Greene/Morgan/Scott County region for this election, only one is contested. Democrat Devron Ohrn runs against Republican Ronald T. Boris for the Cass County Sheriff’s office.

Cass County will retain its County Clerk Shelly Wessel and Treasurer Travis Cox, as well as State’s Attorney R. John Alvarez, who was appointed last year. Greene, Morgan, and Scott Counties will all retain their County Clerks and Treasurers. Morgan County will have a new Sheriff, Mike Carmody, while Greene County keeps Sheriff Rob McMillen, and Scott County will stay with Sheriff Tom Eddinger. All twelve of these races feature only one person.

Cass County is the only one in the four-county region that sits in the 47th legislative district and the 93rd representative district. Much like Steve McClure for the 50th, Republican incumbent Jil Tracy will win the 47th legislative district seat. For state representatives, Democrat John Curtis faces Republican incumbent Norine Hammond for the 93rd representative district. C.D. Davidsmeyer runs unopposed in the 100th representative district.

Three regional school superintendents will keep their jobs. Jill Reis will stay leading the Region #1 office, serving six counties including Cass, Morgan, and Scott. Jeff Vose continues with Region #51 for Sangamon and Menard counties, and Michelle Mueller remains in Region #40 as superintendent of a region that includes Greene County.

Morgan and Scott County residents will vote for a county commissioner. Ginny Fanning is running unopposed in Morgan County, while Republican Craig Lashmett will face Democrat Weldon Fearneyhough. Cass and Greene Counties will elect people to their county boards. Three Republicans and three Democrats are vying for only three seats on the Greene County board. In Cass County, two Democrats will face off with one Republican and one Independent candidate for two seats representing district one, and the other three Cass County districts will be represented by three separate Democrats who are all running unopposed.

National races are representative of Illinois’s 18th House district for Cass, Morgan, and Scott counties, as Republican incumbent Darin LaHood aims to hold his spot against Democrat Junius Rodriguez. Greene County, however, is in the 13th House district, and will decide between Republican incumbent Rodney Davis and Democrat Betsy Dirksen Londrigan.

Finally, Cass and Morgan County residents will vote on a proposition to increase the maximum allowable tax rate for the Arenzville Fire Protection District from 0.125% to 0.3%.