School board filing set to begin

With the partisan part of the ballot set, filing for non-partisan school board seats will get underway next week.

Filing for three Jay School Board seats that are up for election this year begins at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday in the clerk’s office — currently located in the auditorium — at Jay County Courthouse.

Seats up for election this year are held by board president Phil Ford (District 4), Krista Muhlenkamp (District 6) and Jason Phillips (District 1 – City of Portland).

Both Ford and Muhlenkamp are closing out their first terms on the school board. Ford was uncontested in the 2016 election while Muhlenkamp defeated Amanda Campbell.

Phillips was selected last summer to complete Kristi Betz’s term after she and her family moved to Georgia. (Betz won election to her second term in 2016, defeating Mitch Waters.)

The deadline to file is noon Aug. 21.

The school board seats will fill out the remainder of the local ballot that currently features just two contested races. Republican Brian McGalliard and independent Bruce Counterman are seeking the Jay County Commissioner south district seat while five candidates — Republicans Jeanne Houchins, Matt Minnich and Ray Newton, and Democrats Judy Aker and Josh Gibson — for three Jay County Council at-large seats.

Extending beyond Jay County, the ballot will feature races for president, U.S. representative, governor and state representative.

Election Day is Nov. 3.