Staff Report

Candidates to face off in April 6 election for State Superintendent

The final, results of the February 16 primary are in, with the race for State Superintendent narrowed from seven to two. With 88,716 votes statewide for Jill Underly to 86,095 votes statewide for Deborah Kerr as posted to wisconsinvote.org, the two top finalists for state superintendent easily defeated their non-partisan rivals for the state post, with next runner-up Sheila Briggs finishing at 50,766 votes in the statewide primary, followed with Shandowlyon Hendricks-Williams at 36,837 votes. Last but not least were Troy Gunderson at 27,423 votes, Steve Krull at 20,525, and Joe Fenrick at 14,502 votes. So much for state finishes. What of the local?

In the first place, there were no major local races to be trimmed down in the February 16 primary for the immediate Stanley-Boyd Country, though Cadott saw Christine L. Rowe and Cory LaNou finish out with 157 and 198 votes respectively, while Char Seibel finished in fifth place with 78 votes. Still, how did each locale vote for the State Superintendent?

Not so different than the state at large for the top two spots, as it turns out. Located down at the Chippewa County website under “Government,” then “County Clerk,” followed with “elections” and then “election results,” the unofficial results for 47 precincts are tallied, as follows.

With distinguishing between municipalities but with no provisional ballots outstanding, Kerr took first place in the State Superintendent primary for Chippewa County, with 807 votes total. Following Kerr was Underly with 599 votes, followed in turn by Krull with 166 votes and 160 for Hendricks-Williams. Gunderson received 398 votes county wide while Sheila Briggs had 391 votes tallied and Joe Fenrick had 139 votes. There were six write-ins.

Shifting next from Chippewa south to Eau Claire County, the county-wide rundown was followed with a precinct level report. Starting with the Cadott school board, there were two votes total, one of Kevin Roshell and the other for Rod Tegels, both from Ludington township, no write-ins or other votes being tallied.

Meanwhile from a total of 4,917 votes county-wide in Eau Claire for State Superintendent, Underly and Kerr were neck and neck, with 1,668 for Underly and 1,312 for Kerr, no other candidates topping 730, although Sheila Briggs received 729 total.

Switching from county-wide to precinct level, the City of Eau Claire stole the show, comprising 83 of 95 total county voting precincts, although many city wards showed no votes at all, with just 5.8 percent of eligible voters turning out county-wide.

For the townships most locally relevant to Stanley-Boyd meanwhile, Wilson went for Kerr with seven votes total being reported, followed by Joe Fenrick with four votes and one each for Underly, Krull, Gunderson, and Briggs. Hendricks-Williams received zero of the total fifteen votes cast for State Superintendent, and there were no write-ins.

As to Ludington, the spread was eleven votes for Kerr, seven for Underly, five for Briggs, four for Gunderson, and one for Hendricks-Williams, a total of 28 votes being cast for superintendent in Ludington total.

Shifting northeast to Taylor County, Kerr took the overall overall vote with 400 to Underly’s 156, no other candidate breaking past 90 votes.

Breaking down the western county township, Taft went overwhelmingly for Kerr with 10 votes, followed by Shandowlyon Hendricks-Williams with five votes, and one each for Underly and Gunderson, with no other votes cast for a registered candidate and zero write-ins.

East of Taft in Roosevelt meanwhile, Underly led the way with eight votes total to four votes for Kerr, while Briggs took three, Fenrick two, and Gunderson one, closing out the Roosevelt tally. As to Lublin being located at the center of Roosevelt, the tally was six votes for Kerr, three for Krull, two for Fenrick, and one each for Briggs and Underly.

Just north in Ford meanwhile, it was four votes for Briggs, three for Gunderson, two for Underly and one for Kerr, while Aurora next door to Ford went the other way, seeing eight votes for Kerr, three for Hendricks-Williams, and one each for Gunderson and Fenrick. Closing out our Taylor County tally the Village of Gilman went strong for Briggs, with seven votes to the Assistant State Superintendent of Instruction, while Kerr had three votes and Underly two, with one each for Krull, Gunderson and Fenrick.

Traveling south to Clark County, meanwhile, the pdf report at the county website tallies results for state superintendent, as follows.

Starting in the City of Thorp (not township), there were 19 votes for Underly and 18 for Kerr, while Hendricks-Williams, Gunderson and Fenrick each got four and Briggs took five votes. Krull took three votes, with a total of 59 ballots citywide. Meanwhile in Stanley’s Ward 5 on the east side, there were zero votes

See SUPERINTENDENT RACE, Page 9

Deborah Kerr

Jill Underly SUPERINTENDENT RACE

FROM PAGE 3 cast in the non-partisan State Superintendent primary, no ballots being sought or tallied per the report.

Shifting next to the Town of Worden, the township with two wards saw a total of 21 ballots cast, eleven for Kerr, four for Underly, three for Krull, two for Gunderson and one for Hendricks- Williams, filling out the 21 ballots cast exactly.

Jumping north to Thorp for the roundup, there were 20 ballots cast, with nine going to Kerr, three to Underly, two each to Hendricks-Williams, Gunderson, and Fenrick, closed out with one each for Krull and Briggs.

Aside from an eight-candidate choice in the school district of Black River Falls (no more than three votes allowed), there isn’t much else to report for the February 16 primary as locally defined.

On the other hand, if it’s fishing that you’re into more than election info, the Wisconsin DNR price list for fishing licenses is also available at the Chippewa County website at co.chippewa.wi.us, with the resident “husband and wife” fishing license listed at just $31, with non-residents looking at $65, “including 16- and 17-year-olds”—but there are caveats. A Fishing and Small Game license for members of the Armed Forces, is free. Residents born before 1927 or under age 16 generally speaking, meanwhile, do not need a license. With spring season now approaching fast, there’s something non— political at least, to look forward to.

The Spring election primary is scheduled for April 6.