Primary Election Day took place yesterday, May 5th, and county results are in.
In Starke County, one of the most closely watched races was the Republican primary for Prosecuting Attorney in the 44th Judicial Circuit. Autumn Ferch defeated Leslie Ann Baker with 58.26% of the vote to Baker’s 41.74%. Ferch received 1,432 votes compared to Baker’s 1,026.
In the Republican sheriff’s race, Jack Rosa won a three-way contest with 55.93 percent of the vote. Rosa received 1,391 votes, while Matthew Topelian received 571 votes, or 22.96%, and Dennis Fornelli received 525 votes, or 21.11%.
Republican incumbent Jim Pressel won the State Representative District 20 primary with 70.9% of the vote over challenger Juanita Haney, receiving 424 votes to Haney’s 174.
In the Republican County Commissioner District 2 race, E. Todd Leinbach defeated Don Binkley by a margin of 56.58% to 43.42%. Leinbach received 1,381 votes compared to Binkley’s 1,060.
Howard Bailey Jr. won the Republican County Council District 2 race with 69.41% of the vote, defeating Tom Busch. In County Council District 4, Eugene Pugh defeated Debra Wappel with 65.75% of the vote.
Several Republican races were uncontested, including U.S. Representative District 2, State Representative District 16, County Auditor, County Recorder, and Circuit Court Clerk.
On the Democratic side, many positions had either uncontested races or no candidate filed. Democratic sheriff candidate Brack Rowe received 522 votes uncontested, while Michelle Houston Schouten received 566 votes in the uncontested Democratic County Assessor race.
Democratic voters did hold contested primaries in a handful of races. In the Democratic primary for U.S. Representative District 2, Jamee Decio defeated Shaun Michael Maeyens with 54.67% of the vote. In the Democratic State Representative District 20 race, Laura Liskey defeated Alicia Firanek with 59.85% of the vote.
Multiple township and local races across both parties were either uncontested or featured no candidates filed.
Countywide turnout reached 19.23 percent, with 3,249 ballots cast out of 16,896 registered voters. Of those votes, 2,304 were cast on Election Day, 835 through walk-in absentee voting, and 110 by mail absentee ballot.
Full County results can be found on WKVI’s Election Central page.
