Few vote in Red Oak elections; incumbents ousted in Villisca

With no contested municipal races, a smattering of voters turned out in Red Oak to re-elect the incumbent mayor and two city council members.

Ted Schoonover was re-elected to a third term as mayor with 116 votes, while John Nuti received nine votes as a write-in candidate.

Mark Gregg and Tom Pratt were also re-elected to the council as at-large and Ward Two representatives with 121 and 42 votes, respectively.

A total of 115 ballots were cast at the polls, and coupled with 18 absentee ballots, 3.3 percent of registered voters participated in the election.

While absent in Red Oak, there were some contested elections in Montgomery County, including one in Villisca where two incumbents were defeated.

Adam Wainwright and Andy Crussell were both elected with 175 and 146 votes, defeating incumbents Janice Phills with 83 votes Thomas McAlpin with 69.

Larry Figgins was again re-elected mayor with 173 votes while Ed Harm received 19 write-in votes.

Elliott also featured a race for City Council as Michelle Wendt Linn, Nancy Jo Nelson and Don Brown were elected with 71, 62 and 60 votes, respectively. Mark and Tami Altschaffl received 18 and 15 votes, respectively.

Also in Elliott, Stephen Howell was elected mayor in an unopposed race with 67 votes.

Other communities with uncontested elections included:

Coburg — Gene Redd, mayor, six votes; Jody Schooling (five) and Bill Gillespie (three), council member;

Stanton — Kirk Requist, mayor, 74 votes; Harold Clark (77), Duane Dinville (76) and Tysen Sederburg (66), council member;

Grant — Zelda Swartz, mayor, 26 votes; Phillip Chalmers (28), Lynn Shafer (24), Lyn Sliger (28), Nancy Taylor (25) and Mike Amos (10), council members.

With Red Oak’s voter participation at just over three percent, the numbers were substantially higher in the rest of the county at 23.55 percent. Countywide, 10.3 percent of registered voters cast their ballot.