The filing period is now open for the June 28th primary election. Morgan County Clerk Jill Waggener says as of this afternoon, she along with a handful of precinct committeemen had already filed paperwork to be on the ballot.
Among offices that will be on the ballot in Morgan County this year include County Clerk and Sheriff. The Morgan County Treasurer’s seat will be on for a four-year term, and one Morgan County Commissioners’ seat will be up for a six-year term. The seat is currently being held by Mike Wankel of Jacksonville who was appointed to the seat earlier this year after the passing of former Commissioner Bill Meier.
Waggener says anyone filling to run for office in the primary has until this time next week, and there are a couple of steps they need to take.
“What they will do is they will bring in petitions which they have circulated for signatures from registered voters here in Morgan County. If they are a precinct committeemen it is just for people within their precinct. If it’s for, say myself or say the Treasurer, we can go countywide and get the signatures. That began at 8:30 this morning and they have until 4:30 next Monday when the closing period ends.”
Waggener says there have been some changes to at least one of the forms, so applicants need to make sure they follow the included instructions.
“The Statement of Economic Interest form changed a little bit. There are instructions within the packet that I hand out to people that just kind of explains it. There are also instructions on the Statement of Economic Interest form. But it’s mainly just getting the required number of signatures, filling out a few papers, and bringing them into my office.”
Waggener says a few precincts in Jacksonville and a couple out in the county were consolidated ahead of this year’s election cycle. She says the polling places will remain the same, but the consolidation will reduce the number of required election judges which will save the county money in the long run.
Waggener says she’s excited to get the election judges into the courthouse to train on the new voting machines that were purchased late last year. She says the new machines are very user-friendly with touchscreen capability that has a removable tethered handheld device to help visually impaired voters cast their ballot.
The new machines are not connected to the internet, however, and instead print a paper ballot that the voter then takes to a machine that records the ballot while locking it in a safe box until they are taken to her office on election night for counting and processing.
You can find a list of candidates who have filed for state offices in the area beginning today on our website at WLDS.com. We will continue to update the list of candidates as more file and the information becomes available.