Deadline looms for ballot filings

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Local political parties have until noon Tuesday to fill vacancies on the ballot for the Nov. 3 municipal general election in Seymour.

Ballots for town council seats and clerk-treasurer positions in Brownstown, Crothersville and Medora won’t be complete until after Aug. 3, the last day to file for those offices at the clerk’s office in the Jackson County Courthouse in Brownstown.

Jackson County Democratic and Republican parties have been working to field candidates since the primary election in May.

Perhaps the biggest vacancy is on the Democratic side.

Party chairwoman Jeanette Hackman said Thursday they won’t have a candidate running against incumbent Republican Craig Luedeman in the Seymour mayoral race or incumbent Republican Fred Lewis for clerk-treasurer this fall.

Luedeman is seeking a third term, and Lewis is seeking his seventh term.

The party also won’t be filling any of its other vacant slots on the November ballot for the Seymour election.

“We just don’t have anyone interested. We were hoping to find someone, but our city committee hasn’t come up with anyone,” Hackman said Thursday. “That’s just the way it is.”

Melissa Acton, Republican chairwoman, said her party has two vacancies remaining on the ballot for which to find candidates. They are Seymour City Council Districts 1 and 5.

The District 1 seat is held by Democrat John J. Reinhart, who is seeking re-election, and the District 5 seat is held by independent Dave Earley, who also is seeking another term.

The only other Democrats on the ballot are political newcomer Tammy Riordan, who is running for the District 4 council seat, and incumbent at-large council member Lloyd Hudson.

Acton said Republican precinct committee members were scheduled to meet today to discuss the vacancies.

“We would like to fill them, and we’ll try to fill them,” she said. “But when there are district boundaries, it can be more difficult to find someone because you’re looking at a much smaller pool of people. We typically don’t have any trouble finding candidates for city- or countywide offices.”

She said she is surprised there aren’t more Democrats running.

Although the parties are supposed to conduct a caucus to vote to allow the party leader to fill the vacancies, Acton said there’s not much time left to do that.

Other Republicans on the November ballot include Darrin Boas and newcomer Kendra Zumhingst, who won the party’s vote in the May primary for two at-large council seats. Boas currently holds one of the seats after being chosen in January by a Republican caucus to fill a vacancy.

Independent Shawn Malone is seeking an at-large seat in the general election this fall.

Incumbent Republican District 4 Councilman Jim Rebber will be on the fall ballot facing Riordan. He is seeking his sixth term in office.

Republican newcomer Matt Nicholson is unopposed on the ballot for the District 3 council seat. Incumbent Danny Sloan decided not to seek election to a full term.

Republican Brian “Bubba” D’Arco will be unopposed in the fall in his bid for a second term as District 2 councilman.

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