by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

In the craziest off-year election in history, more than 138,000 Hamilton County voters went to the polls yesterday, creating anxiety on the part of many who could not imagine what such a large turnout would mean.

In the end, Republicans won all but one minor office (a township board seat in Fall Creek Township), but margins were closer than usual, leading Democratic Chairman Joe Weingarten to express satisfaction with the progress his candidates had made.

In most countywide races, Republicans won with about 60 percent of the vote, but that was down from the 70 percent or more that is normal in the county.

Leading the way was a relative newcomer to politics, Chuck Goodrich, who will take the seat formerly held by retiring State Rep. Kathy Richardson. Dennis Quakenbush won the sheriff’s race with slightly more than 60 percent of the vote.

The Noblesville School referendum proposing a $50 million bond issue passed with 58 percent of the vote. And, in Hamilton County, voters approved a state constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget.

Most school board members were re-elected in non-partisan voting.

A little-known change in the state law nearly cost some township officials their positions. Township officials are no longer included in straight-ticket voting. With more than 46,000 county voters pulling a straight Republican ticket, and only 20,000 voting straight Democratic, all incumbent township trustees and board members suffered greatly. All township officials are Republicans, and all but one managed to win despite the change in the law, but by much smaller margins than were seen in other races.

Election officials said the voting went well despite the record-breaking turnout. Nearly 33,000 residents voted early this year, and another 9,800 voted absentee.

Based on the vote count from the Hamilton County Election Office, it appears a Democrat has been elected to the Fall Creek Township Board.  Rachna Greulach edged out Greg Dewald to win the third and final board seat.  Republicans Brian Baehl & Jason Meyer both won re-election to the board.  Here are the final vote totals:

(R) Brian Baehl              11,810

(R) Jason Meyer            11,795

(D) Rachna Greulach   10,675

(R) Greg Dewald            10,554

(Top three win board seats)

Fall Creek Township Trustee Doug Allman was unopposed

In Delaware Township, Republicans swept the offices, but the vote count was a little close for the third board seat.  Here are the vote totals for the board:

(R) Marilyn Schenkel                 5.955

(R) David Giffel                             5.422

(R) Ed Pierce                                  5,397

(D) Dayna Colbert                       4,849

(D) Mary Ray                                  4.694

(D) Bianca Zaklikowski             4,599

Incumbent Delaware Township Trustee, Republican Debbie Driskell, won an easy victory over Democrat Daniel Greenhalgh.  Driskell tallied 57% of the votes.

The Hamilton Southeastern School Board, encompassing the entire City of Fishers, unincorporated areas of Delaware & Fall Creek Township, as well as all of Wayne Township, will swear-in three new board members in 2019 and return one incumbent.

Michelle Fullhart won a second term by garnering 70% of the District 3 vote, compared to Jennifer Reardon McSoley’s 30%.

In District 1, local businessman Brad Boyer won a three-way race, collecting 44% of the vote.  Josh Richardson received 34% of the votes cast, Ben Elsbury received 22%.

In District 2, Janet Pritchett won another three-way race, winning the board seat with 48% of votes cast.  Frank Whelan, in his second bid for a board seat, finished the evening’s tally with 29% and Matt Molter had 23% of the vote.

In District 4, in the contest between two attorneys, it was a close vote count.  Julie Chambers won 51% of the vote, Brad Banks 49%.  The candidates were separated by only 268 votes among a total of 9,674 cast.

Here is the final vote count in each race, according to the Hamilton County Election Office:

District 1

Bradley Boyer                      2,650

Joshua Richardson           2,042

Benjamin Elsbury             1,302

My wife Jane and I are lucky that we are retired and head to the polls in the middle of the day, when voting lines tend to be shorter.  We did that today at our polling place, which was once Ben & Ari’s and is now the Alderman Auto Dealership.

The poll workers were friendly and smiling, even though they began their work day at 5am and will not leave until all is complete, sometime after 6pm today.

The United States Senate race has been the big statewide story in Indiana.  The President of the United States has visited Indiana more than once and former President Barack Obama spoke at a rally in northwest Indiana.

I tend to concentrate on local elections, and in Fishers the most important one is the decision to elect four members of the local Hamilton Southeastern School Board.  With four seats up for grabs and only one incumbent running, there will be a significant change in the make-up of our local school board.

In past years, I have followed the election results from the county office in Noblesville, but I am under contract to speak early Wednesday morning in Greenwood, so I may not have the election results all set late tonight, but I should have the results very early Wednesday morning by the time most people are up and getting ready for their day.

I have seen a big increase in the number of people reading my blog and listening to my podcasts during this election season, so thanks to those of you reading LarryInFishers.com and listening to my LarryInFishers.com podcasts.  You are the reason I continue with this volunteer endeavor.

Colin Lennon though he had retired, but the next thing he knew, he was in charge of a locally-based charity, Mustard Seed, that provides furnishings for people facing serious challenges and in need of home furnishings.  Here is my conversation with Colin Lennon

The Fishers City Council held a rare early-morning session Monday in an effort to meet the legal deadlines for issuing $9.5 million in bonds by the end of the year, financing the replacement of two fire stations.  The two stations are planned to be demolished and rebuilt at their current locations.

One set for reconstruction is the Fire Department headquarters building next to
City Hall, which also contains a fire station.  The other facility is located along Allisonville Road, near 106th Street and adjacent to Metropolitan Airport.

If all goes as planned, the demolition and reconstruction projects will start in 2019.

Mayor Scott Fadness tells LarryInFishers the city is in the process of finding temporary locations for each fire station while the construction is ongoing, within their current districts, to handle response times for fire crews within each fire district.

No one spoke at the public hearing and the council unanimously approved the bonds.

There are four seats up for election on the Hamilton Southeastern School Board November 6th, and there are many people not on the ballot choosing to get involved.  Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness has chosen to endorse candidates in all four district contests.  Several members of the Fishers City Council are endorsing candidates and working for those being endorsed.

But the most controversial intervention was by a sitting school board member not up for re-election, Amanda Shera, and she is issuing apologies for a Facebook post that she deleted several hours after posting it.

This past week, Shera, an at-large board member from Delaware Township with 2 years left on her current term, wrote and posted a Facebook message that included several attacks on the Hamilton Southeastern Education Association and a candidate endorsed by the local teacher’s union, Michelle Fullhart.  Shera also had strong comments on school policies toward transgender students.

Just a few hours after sharing that post on Facebook, Amanda Shera deleted it.

LarryInFishers had a lengthy telephone conversation with Amanda Shera Saturday morning.  She was emotional in saying she regrets posting the Facebook message.  When I asked her whether she stands by the comments she made in the Facebook message, she said she does not stand by those comments.

According to Shera, she would have deleted the Facebook post sooner, but wasn’t sure how to do that technically.  She had to contact a more tech-savvy friend to explain how to make the deletion.

But even though the post was live for only a few hours, many people took screenshots of the Facebook message and it has been making the rounds on social media around the Hamilton Southeastern School District.

One thing Amanda Shera made clear in her conversation with LarryInFishers is that she realizes the post was “inappropriate.”  Shera added she has apologized to all the school board candidates she was able to contact, including Michelle Fullhart.

In addition, Shera said she wants  to publicly apologize to the Hamilton Southeastern Education Association, which was the main target of her post that was deleted.

Shera said she was emotional and upset about some private messages that had been sent to her, as well as a post on her Facebook page she did not make herself,  which led to her posting on Facebook while in that emotional state.

As to her comment about treatment of transgender students in the schools, Shera said she has reached out to parents of transgender students in the HSE school district to better understand their point of view on school policies.

Perhaps there is a lesson here for all of us.  Do not post on any social media platform when you are upset or emotional.  Amanda Shera learned that lesson the hard way.  We all should learn from this.

by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

(NOTE: This is a commentary written by Fred Swift of the Hamilton County Reporter. The views expressed are those of Fred Swift and do not necessarily reflect the views of LarryInFishers.com.  This opinion piece is posted here as part of a partnership between the Reporter and LarryInFishers.com) 

It’s a big mystery: What does the huge early voting mean come Tuesday night when all that record-breaking number of ballots are counted along with an expected record Election Day turnout?

Election watchers are mystified. It could mean another big win for Republicans or it could mean the first inroads for Democrats into Hamilton County’s well-known GOP tradition.

The county elections office has had nearly 35,000 early voters including thousands of walk-ins at the Judicial Center and three satellite locations and more than 7,500 mailed absentee ballots. The numbers should easily exceed any past off-year election.

Voters will fill many important offices headlined by the choosing of a U.S. Senator. That race between incumbent Joe Donnelly and challenger Mike Braun has attracted national attention and is seen as one that could decide control of the Senate.

There is also a race between incumbent Republican Congresswoman Susan Brooks and Democrat Dee Thornton. Both are Carmel residents. Democrats are making a big push for the State Senate District 29 seat occupied by Mike Delph, who is being challenged by Democrat J.D. Ford.

But, other contests have drawn considerable attention clear down the ballot to school board elections in the county’s six school districts. And, for the first time in years Democrats are challenging Republicans for many county and township offices.

County offices at stake in Tuesday’s election include Sheriff, Prosecutor, Clerk, Coroner, County Commissioner, Judge of Superior Courts 1 and 6 and four seats on the county council. The Republican candidates for prosecutor and judges are unopposed.

All the county’s nine township trustees will be elected this year along with their township boards.

All election results will be known by Wednesday.

Hamilton County Reporter

The Fishers cheerleading program is back in the winner’s circle.

The Tigers won the Indiana Cheer Championship, which
took place Saturday night at New Castle High School. Fishers won the
Varsity A competition for the fourth time; the Tigers had won three in a row in
2013-14-15.

Noblesville, the two-time defending state champion, finished in second place,
marking the third year in a row that the Millers had finished in the top two.

Eight schools competed in the Varsity A division, with teams from Carmel
and Hamilton Southeastern also competing in Varsity A.

The Indiana Cheer Championship is conducted by the Indiana Association of School Principals. The tournament has taken place since 1991.

Hamilton County Reporter

Tigers win two games at Ben Davis Classic

Fishers got its season started on Saturday with two wins at the
Ben Davis Classic.

In their first game, the Tigers cruised past Southport 65-38.
Katie Burton led Fishers with 18 points, with Skylar
Fulton and Lydia Stullekn each scoring 10; Stullken pulled 10
rebounds for a double-double.

Tamia Perryman had nine points and eight rebounds. Burton also made
four steals.

The Tigers came back to beat Ben Davis 63-55 in their second game. Fishers coach
Lauren Vail said her team “used a total team effort on defense and offense to come back
from seven in the third quarter.”

Burton poured in 27 points, including three 3-pointers, also getting five rebounds
and four steals. Audra Emmerson added 15 points, with Perryman scoring 11 and
pulling nine rebounds.

The Tigers are 2-0 and next play on Wednesday at Anderson.

Royals sweep at Ben Davis Classic

The Hamilton Southeastern girls basketball team picked up two wins at the Ben Davis
Classic to open its season on Saturday.

The Class 4A No. 4 Royals beat the host Giants 47-42 and Southport 95-18.

Southeastern is 2-0 and plays two games next Saturday at the Fishers Tip-Off Classic.