What do you hear about this year’s election?
This is a common question I typically get this time of year.
This year I would sum up my answer with one word.
Quiet.
It’s a word Whitley County Clerk Carolyn Willis also recently used to describe the upcoming May Primary Election when I interviewed her, as well as various others.
There just is not much buzz about it.
This may have something to do with the fact many races are uncontested this year in Whitley County, such as judge-executive, coroner, district judge, county attorney, state representative and PVA. This is probably a sign most people are generally content with the job these incumbents are doing.
This isn’t to say there are not several important contested races on the ballot, such as county clerk, sheriff, jailer, all but one magistrate position, and third-district constable.
With Willis planning to retire at the end of this year, there are three people running for county clerk, Scotty Harrison, Mike Harris and Evelyn McCullah.
Five people are vying to replace Harrison as first-district magistrate, including Lloyd Carter, Bobby Parker, Jonah Rice, James Hayes and C.J. Clark. In the third-district, incumbent Magistrate Michael Jarboe is facing opposition from Noah A. Mahan and Ricky Grubb. In the fourth-district, incumbent Magistrate Raleigh Meadors is facing opposition from Eugene Smith.
In the jailer’s race, incumbent Jason Wilson will square off against challenger Chuck Evans.
Perhaps the two most interesting races are for sheriff and third-district constable.
Incumbent Sheriff Bill Elliotte is being challenged by Scott Bunch and B.J. Leach.
Four years ago, Elliotte won his first term in office beating out Bunch by about 500 votes in the primary. There were three other candidates in the race, including Leach, who received 62 votes.
Elliotte and Bunch are both retired Kentucky State Police officers.
This was a very interesting race four years ago as there was no incumbent on the ballot. It would not surprise me if this one were close again this year.
Four years ago, Jim Thornton was the incumbent third-district constable. He unsuccessfully ran for sheriff instead of seeking re-election. He finished in third place in the sheriff’s primary just a few votes behind Bunch.
Jordan Davis won the primary election four years ago for third-district constable. Thornton attempted a write-in campaign in the November General Election in 2022 for third-district constable but came up about 400 votes short.
Next month, there will be a rematch.
So, voters can make the best decisions possible in each of these locally contested elections. The News Journal sent out questionnaires to all our local candidates in contested races here in Whitley County.
It cost nothing for the candidates to participate except for a little bit of their time to read the questions and send us back answers.
In a special section appearing in this week’s paper, you will get to read about what each of these candidates feel their qualifications are for the office they are seeking and what they feel the main issues are in their races.
Some answered quicker than others, but I am happy to report all our candidates responded this year. We didn’t really have to prod many of them to get their answers back to us, which I can assure you is not always the case in every election…LOL.
