Early voting a week away

Election day is still a month away. But voters can begin casting their ballots next week.
Early voting at Jay County Courthouse begins April 8 — 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4:30 p.m. daily — and voters will have four contested primaries to weigh in on at the county-wide level.
Three of those races will be on the Republican ballot, on which there are three candidates for sheriff and two each of recorder and commissioner. The lone contested county-wide race on the Democratic ballot is for Jay County Prosecutor.
The race for United States Representative in District 3, which includes Jay County, includes three Republican and three Democratic candidates. There are also four candidates — two Republicans and two Democrats — for Redkey Town Council at large, and one contested race for township trustee.
As was the case eight years ago, the sheriff’s race is the most crowded on the ballot with Ray Newton stepping aside after two terms in office. The hopefuls are Republicans Rob Bicknell, Dwane Ford and Mitch Sutton.
Bicknell and Sutton are both long-time sheriff’s office deputies, with Bicknell currently serving as chief deputy. Sutton was chief deputy under former sheriff Todd Penrod and is now on the Drug Task Force. Ford has served as Jay County Conservation officer for more than 20 years.
Sutton was part of a four-candidate field for the Republican nomination in 2006, finishing third behind Newton and Jay Halstead.
The battle for the Jay County Commissioner middle district seat pits incumbent Milo Miller Jr. against challenger Doug Inman.
Miller is in the final year of his sixth term (24 years) as a commissioner. He turned back a primary challenge from Roger Locker in 2010 and then defeated Democratic challenger Zeb Sutton in the general election.
Inman is executive director of The Portland Foundation and served one term on Jay School Board.
The race for recorder pits incumbent Beverly Myers against her predecessor, Betty St. Myers.
Myers served as first deputy under St. Myers beginning in 2006. She defeated Democrat Ken Wellman in the race for recorder in 2010.
St. Myers served two terms as recorder beginning in 2003 and had been first deputy for nine years.
The only contested county-wide race on the Democratic ticket pits incumbent prosecutor Wes Schemenaur against challenger Jill Gonzalez.
Schemenaur was the only local Democrat to pick up a win in the 2010 election as he earned 57 percent of the vote to defeat Republican Greg LeMaster. He filled the seat vacated by the retirement of longtime prosecutor Bob Clamme.
Gonzalez, a criminal defense attorney with her office in Delaware County, is making her first run for prosecutor. She lost a bid for Jay Circuit Court Judge to Brian Hutchison in 2012.
There will be choices for U.S. Representative on both ballots, with two challengers stepping up to take on incumbent Marlin Stutzman on the Republican side.
Stutzman, who represents the northeast corner of the state including Jay County, is seeking a third term in office, having cruised to victories with 63 percent of the vote in 2010 and 67 percent of the vote in 2012. His challengers for the Republican nomination are Mark Baringer, a realtor, and James Mahoney III, a former director of Parks and Recreation in Merrillville.
Aiming to earn the spot on the Democratic ticket for the general election are Tommy Schrader, Justin Kuhnle, who works for Indiana Professional Management Group, and Jim Redmond, a manufacturing manager. Schrader and Kuhnle both ran for the same nomination in 2012, finishing a distant second and fourth respectively to Kevin Boyd in a six-person race.
Incumbent David Dudelston faces three challengers in a race for two Redkey Town Council at-large seats. Dudelston, who was slated to fill the seat after David Himes resigned in 2012, will battle fellow Republican Ryan Wolford and Democrats Charles Coons and Watermelon Jim Phillips.
The lone contested race for township trustee comes in Penn Township between Republicans Lisa Bunch and Steven Cash.[[In-content Ad]]