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Hoisington Mayoral race ends with Popp on top
Your Vote Counts

 Around the county, voters elected mayors and city council and school board members, and Ellinwood also elected trustees to the Ellinwood Hospital District. The big election night story was the Hoisington’s Mayoral race.
Hoisington Mayor Clayton Williamson opted to run for office once again. Janet M. Hood filed for an opportunity to fill his well-worn shoes, and Jim Sekavec and Dalton Popp were encouraged to run write-in campaigns. The write-ins received an overwhelming majority of the votes, with Popp winning with 243 votes and Sekavec receiving 175.
Popp said he was at the polls at 7 a.m. to vote, and spent the day in anticipation of the final results. He is excited to serve, and is looking forward to learning how local government works. He is a 2001 graduate of Hoisington High school 2006 graduate of Kansas State University. He didn’t hesitate to move back to the area when a job offer was made, and he plans to raise his family here. He hopes to engage more of the younger generation in the community, and work to promote the community to business. He will be at the city council meeting on Monday, eager to begin observing and preparing to step into his position in January.
Sekavec served on the Hoisington City Council for 28 years, and served as the city worked through several difficult times including the aftermath of a tornado. He served as council president for four of those years. In addition, served as fire chief, and was with the Hoisington Fire Department for 44 years, and continues to be active with the Hoisington EMS.
For Hoisington City Council, there were no filings for the Ward 1 position. There were 15 write-in votes, but no clear winner. Christina Smith received two of them, but she is not a resident of that ward.
In Ward 2, Johnathan Durrett challenged incumbent Michael F. Aylward. Aylward will fill the seat for another term, having received 119 votes to Durrett’s 61.
Incumbent James W. Morris ran unopposed in Ward 3, receiving 110 votes.
In Ward 4, the competition was between incumbent Christina Smith and challenger Shaun H. Miller. Smith won with 60 percent of the vote.
USD 431 in Hoisington had five candidates running to fill three at-large seats. Incumbents were Sara Tarlton and Kelly Urban. Others running included James Wright, Keri Schremmer and Maggie McCain. Advanced votes saw Keri Schremmer ahead with 26.36 percent, followed closely by Sara Tarlton at 25.45 percent, and Kelly Urban with 19.09 percent.
At Ellinwood, Mayor Irlan Fullbright was on the ballot again with no opposition. He won with 155 votes of 165 cast.
Alan M. Brauer faced Jon L. Prescott for his seat. It was a tight race, but Brauer will retain his position, having received 51.33 percent of the votes.
USD 355 in Ellinwood had four candidates running for an equal number of seats. They included incumbents Virginia Fullbright and Stephen Billinger, along with Troy Moore and Rachel Sieker. The race was tight, with Sieker receiving 177 votes, Billinger 170, Moore 166 and Fullbright 162.
Ellinwood Hospital District had two Board of Trustee positions, but only one candidate, Justin Lear. He received 168 votes, and Kathy Hines received 21 write-in votes.
Three Claflin City Council positions were open, with three people in the running, Doug Hubbard, the incumbent, and Nathaniel Florian, and Dustin Daniels. Votes were close, with Daniels receiving 55, Florian 53 and Hubbard 45.
Also, Tony Zink ran unopposed for his seat on the USD 112 Central Plains Board of Education, receiving 24 votes.
Pawnee Rock had three City Council positions up, with five candidates. Two incumbents were Phyllis Marlene Agee and Vickie Alsup who were joined on the ballot by Terry A Mead, W. Paul Umble and Joyce A. Link. Umble pulled in the most votes with 25, followed by Link with 23, and Agee with 22. Mead received 21 and Alsup 13.
USD 495 Larned had two positions to fill representing the southwestern part of Barton County. Charles Tabler on Position 4 with 29 to Debra Kauer’s 17. Sharon Toll won Position 5 with 43 votes. For Position 6, Jessica Pleasant won with 25 to Tyson Steffen’s 18.
Olmitz had four candidates vying to fill three City Council positions. They included Curtis Peterson, David Bitter, Shannon D. Peterson, and Jim New. Bitter led with 33 votes, followed by Curtis Peterson with 30 and New with 22.
USD 403 Otis-Bison had three positions open. Gary Yost received 59 votes, Everett Royer 64, and a writ in for position 6 received 7.
There were no filings for Mayor or the five Council positions each open at Albert, Galatia or Susank. However, write-ins may fill those positions. For Mayor, there were 21 write-ins cast in Albert, 11 in Galatia and 9 in Susank. For City Council, Albert had 79, Galatia 51, and Susank 45. No clear winners were named as of the publication of unofficial results on Tuesday night, however. The official count will be released following the canvassing of the votes by the Barton County Commission on Monday morning.