After COVID, Illinois was one of several states that changed its primary election date. The Primary is now set for Tuesday June 28.

Early voting is going on at this time if you wish to go to the county building and cast your ballot. This article should be viewed as some brief background with no endorsements of the candidates.

With the 10-year census, there have been some changes. County board districts remain the same, but state Senate and Representative districts have some changes. DeWitt County will be split east of  Clintonia Township for the 88^th District with current Representative Dan Caulkins running as a Republican. There are no Democrats running at this time.

Clintonia Township and the western part of the county will be part of the 87^th District, and two Republicans are running, Mary Burress and William Hauter. Again, no Democrats are running at this time.

The Senate district has gone west, and Sally Turner, the current Senator from Logan County is running for office after having been appointed. Sally is the former County Clerk of Logan County. I have known Sally for many years and have always found her to be conscientious and forthright in her job.

It should be noted that County Clerk Dana Smith and County Treasurer Gloria Wills are retiring after serving multiple terms of office for DeWitt County. Both ladies have served DeWitt County quite well.

Kari Harris is running unopposed for the DeWitt County Clerk position. She has been the senior deputy clerk in that office for several years. Having known and worked with Kari I can state she knows the job and I would anticipate a very smooth transition.

The County Treasurer’s race has two candidates running,

Sarah Jade Russell is currently an employee of the Secretary of State in Springfield working in the DUI section. She studied agriculture at ISU and still works weekends at an emergency vet clinic in Bloomington.

Codilee Snow is currently the business manager with a dental firm and has an accounting degree from Blackburn College. Both women have deep roots to DeWitt County and backgrounds that would assist them as they transition to County Treasurer.

County Board Districts A, B and D each have three Republicans running unopposed. County District C has four Republicans running for three seats.

Megan Myers, the incumbent, is being challenged by Thomas Farris, Kristina Deerwester and Steve Oswald. Myers and Farris both have numerous yard signs out in the community.

A few yard signs for Oswald are now starting to appear. None of these candidates have put out any election literature that I have seen.

Myers has the experience of having been on the board. Farris was a previous DeWitt County Sheriff back in the 1980s and has been a chief of police in Florida communities before moving back to DeWitt County, where he retired as a security supervisor at the power plant. Deerwester is a CAT  employee with a background in financial planning and an interest in Second Chance for Pets animal rescues.

I cannot say that I know anything about Mr. Oswald.

In looking at the ballot, it is obvious that at least five of the 12 county board members to be elected in November will be doing their first term in office. A 41.66-50 percent changeover of members will create a  difficult learning curve for the board since county government is always ongoing. The board will function, but the members will have to put in some extra effort and time to acclimate themselves to the nuances of DeWitt County government.

As to the Governor’s race, I will only make this comment.  The candidate and his supporters who run the least amount of negative attack ads will get my vote. The only thing that is appropriate for such ads is the trash can, and mine is getting very full.

CHRIST LUTHERAN CHURCH—This church had a fundraiser this past Saturday for Ukraine and the local Dove  domestic violence program, two entities that certainly need support at this time.

The church had bratwusrst and river rat potatoes that simply got me in the mood for Apple and Pork this fall. Lunch under a shade tree on the manicured lawn, while talking with Pastor David Dunlop, simply made for an enjoyable Saturday.

This church was giving back to the community and to the world, which simply demonstrates its mission. Christ Lutheran, your efforts were noticed and appreciated.