Races to be decided Tuesday

On Tuesday, we decide.
While many have gone to the polls already via early and absentee voting, the majority will make their choices Tuesday for offices ranging from president to school board and county commissioner. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Indiana.
(Early voting remains available from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and 8:30 a.m. to noon Monday at Jay County Courthouse, 120 N. Court St., Portland.)
The local ballot features a pair of contested races for both Jay County Commissioner and Jay School Board.
For the north district commissioner seat, Republican Mike Leonhard, the current county council president, is seeking a return to office as he squares off against Democrat Robert Franks Jr. Leonhard is a former two-term commissioner who defeated incumbent Faron Parr in the primary, and Franks is a retired Portland Forge supervisor seeking elected office for the first time.
The south district race also pits a government veteran against a newcomer as Democrat Ted Champ takes on Republican Chuck Huffman. Champ currently sits on Jay County Council and has also been on Jay School Board and Redkey Town Council while Huffman, a longtime banker at First Merchants Bank in Portland, is making his first run for office.
The race for Jay School Board’s District 1 seat, which represents the City of Portland, pits incumbent Kristi Betts against Mitch Waters. Betts, the current board president and a former substitute teacher, is seeking her second term against Waters, director of operations at Jay Community Center.
Krista Muhlenkamp and Amanda Campbell are running in District 6 (Wabash, Noble, Pike and Madison townships) after three-term school board member Greg Wellman chose not to run for a fourth. Muhlenkamp is a former teacher who now owns a clothing store in Fort Recovery while Campbell is a commercial lender for First Merchants Bank.

While two current county council members are trying for commissioner seats, three more are seeking re-election. Incumbents Cindy Newton and Jeanne Houchins, both Republicans, and Gary Theurer, a Democrat, are all hoping to return to council while Democrat Michelle McShane is looking to unseat one of them. The top three vote-getters in the four-candidate race will win at-large seats on council.
Voters should be aware that while they can cast straight-ticket votes, those will not count toward the council or school board races. Those must be voted on individually.
Other local races are guaranteed to put a new face in office as coroner Jason White lost in the primary and Jay County clerk Ellen Coats is not eligible to seek a third term. Democrat Curt Compton and Republican Michael Brewster are battling for the coroner position while Republican Jon Eads and Democrat Tony Minch are vying for clerk.
There are also several uncontested local candidates: Republican Paula Alexander-Miller for county treasurer, Republican Brad Daniels for county surveyor and Phil Ford for the District 4 school board seat.
District 33 state representative Greg Beumer, a Republican, is also uncontested.
Fort Recovery will vote on a pair of levy renewals. One of those is a 0.25-mill, five-year levy for street repairs and the other is a 0.23-mill levy for general fund expenses.
The contentious race between Republican Donald Trump, with Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate, and Democrat Hillary Clinton for president, which also includes Libertarian Gary Johnson, will also be decided Tuesday.
Other races for federal office include a senate seat that could be key to control in Washington, D.C. Democrat Evan Bayh and Republican Todd Young are vying to replace incumbent Republican Dan Coats, who chose not to run for re-election. Running for U.S. Representative in Indiana’s third district, which includes Jay County, are Republican Jim Banks, Democrat Tommy A. Schrader and Libertarian Pepper Snyder.
With Pence running for vice president, Republican Eric Holcomb, Democrat John Gregg and Libertarian Rex Bell are seeking to replace him as Indiana’s governor. Other state races include incumbent Democrat Glenda Ritz against Republican Jennifer McCormick for superintendent of public instruction and Democrat Lorenzo Arredondo against Republican Curtis T. Hill Jr. for attorney general.
There will also be three questions on the ballot, including whether or not to add an amendment to the Indiana Constitution guaranteeing the right to hunting. It reads as follows: “Shall the Constitution of the State of Indiana be amended by adding a Section 39 to Article 1 to provide that the right to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife shall be forever preserved for the public good, subject only to the laws prescribed by the General Assembly and rules prescribed by virtue of the authority of the General Assembly to: (1) promote wildlife conservation and management; and (2) preserve the future of hunting and fishing?”
Other questions will involve whether or not to retain Indiana Court of Appeals judges James S. Kirsch (second district) and Patricia A. Riley (fourth district). Both were named to the court by then-governor Evan Bayh in 1994.