Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Early on as Tuesday's votes were counted for the primary election, many of the local races went neck-and-neck.
As the night progressed, however, the winners began to distance themselves until the 65th and last precinct votes were tallied.
In the end, all incumbents will remain incumbents - unless there's a surprise in the general election in November. And for races without incumbents running, name recognition seemed to help.
The most contested race was for the three county council at-large positions. Seeking and winning the Republican nominations were incumbent Thomas L. Anglin (5,055 votes - 22.52 percent); incumbent Larry E. Teghtmeyer (4,967 votes - 22.23 percent); and Robert G. "Bob" Sanders (4,917 votes - 21.91 percent).
For much of the early race, current coroner Larry E. Ladd pulled ahead of Teghtmeyer, but by final count, had only 4,323 votes for fourth place.
"(I) just couldn't break that 19 percent barrier," Ladd said of losing with 19.26 percent of the vote. He said he may try running for office again at some point, but this year he was just going to finish off the year as coroner.
"Who knows what the future will hold?" Ladd said.
"I'm very pleased with the support I had that was given to me," said Teghtmeyer. "I look forward to the fall election. I was interested to see how it would turn out. It was a different race this year with six people running. I was curious to see how the results were going to be. I was very pleased with them."
Anglin has served as councilman for 30 years.
"I was very well pleased. I was very surprised," he said. Anglin opposed the removal of the inventory tax and is against tax abatements. He said he thought those two issues would hurt him in the election, but after winning more votes than any other candidate in the race, he said in his opinion, he thinks his positions may have benefited him.
"I want to very much thank the supporters," he said.
"I think it came out just like I thought it would be," said Sanders of the election.
Sanders said he was running for county councilman Maurice Beer's seat on the council. Beer did not run for re-election this year. If Sanders wins in the general election in November, he said, he is going to do what he said he was going to do during his campaign - represent the taxpayers, meet the county's budget and find the funding for it.
"To me, I'm not a politician. I'm a businessman," Sanders said. As a first-time candidate, he said, receiving the kind of support he did receive is "pretty humbling. I got more than I expected in support from the community."
The other two Republican candidates received a combined total less than the total of undervotes (4,296). Aarron E. Busch received 1,528 votes and Warren D. Murphy received 1,653 votes.
The only Democrat running for office at this time at the county level is Joe Banks, who received 829 votes for one of the county council member at-large positions. Banks will vie for one of the three spots against Anglin, Teghtmeyer and Sanders in the general election.
As for the county coroner race, John E. Sadler received 7,057 votes, whopping Edward Batesla, who received 1,204 votes.
Incumbent Clerk of the Circuit Court Sharon Christner received 4,492 votes to former clerk Marsha A. McSherry's 3,800 votes.
"It was a hard race," said Christner. "Both parties did a lot of work to get stuff done. I look forward to serving the public for another four years."
State Sen. Kent Adams received 59.28 percent of the vote (5,087) to win the county treasurer's race over Rebecca B. "Becky" Smith, who received 40.72 percent (3,494 votes).
"I just want to thank everyone for the support and the confidence they put in me. I look forward to the fall election and the opportunity of serving the citizens of Kosciusko County," said Adams. "We will continue to work hard and serve to the best of our abilities."
Uncontested incumbents include county surveyor Richard Kemper (7,676 votes); northern district county commissioner Bradford L. "Brad" Jackson (7,314 votes); and middle district county commissioner Ronald D. Truex (7,224 votes).
Three school corporations held elections for the primary election only.
Winning for Whitko, unopposed, are Michael Braddock, Hal Trump and J. David Tranter.
Unopposed Tippecanoe Valley candidates winning in Kosciusko County are David E. O'Brien and Hal D. Hoffman.
For Wa-Nee Community Schools, at-large, Christina Eshelman and Chris Gillam won the two open spots, beating out Matt Gaines.
For Wa-Nee Community Schools, Scott & Jefferson townships, Kosciusko County, Penny A. Hershberger ran unopposed.
Eric Brown, Olive Township, Elkhart County, also ran unopposed for his bid for Wa-Nee Community Schools board seat.
