WELCOME! To The AM1310 The Light Afternoons with Amos LIVE BLOG of the 2014 Election Returns for Marion County. As the returns come in we’ll be blogging the results, the trends shown and what they mean. When I feel enough votes have come in to determine a clear cut WINNER we’ll tell you that. Our goal is not to be FIRST to declare a winner but to be RIGHT! Refresh this post often to get the LATEST information.
UNOFFICIAL 2014 MARION COUNTY ELECTION RETURNS FROM ELECTION BOARD
10:20pm – SOME HISTORY MADE TODAY – Some African-American history made in today’s elections in Indianapolis/Marion County. Sheryl Lynch was elected Judge of the Circuit Court. Judge-elect Lynch becomes the first African-American and I believe first female to serve as Judge of this powerful court that has jurisdiction over probate, family matters and elections. Myla Eldridge becomes the first African-American to become County Clerk in the city/county’s history. IPS Board Member-elect Lanier Echols becomes the youngest person elected to the IPS School Board in known history.
9:42pm – DEMOCRATS WIN BIG IN MARION COUNTY. LOSE NO OFFICES HELD – Democrats in Marion County facing an uncertain economy and a lackluster election, won big retain all their countywide offices and holding their bases in six of the city’s nine townships. Sheriff John Layton won a second term despite efforts by Republican Emmitt Carney to make the release of inmates by paperwork snafus a major issue. Prosecutor Terry Curry became the first Democrat to win a second term as Prosecutor in several decades. Democrats also retained the Auditor, Clerk, Recorder of Deeds and Assessor Offices.Democrats retain the Township offices of Trustee, Constable and Small Claims Judge in Center, Pike, Warren, Washington and Lawrence Townships. They won the Small Claims Judge and Constable office in Wayne Township. And have a slim chance of regaining the Wayne Township Trustee office. Congressman Andre carson won a fourth term in Congress against challenger Catherine Cat Ping.
9:35pm – REP. CHRISTINA HALE RETAINS HER SEAT – Rep. Christina Hale the energetic northside legislator who scored an upset two years and who was targeted by Republicans this year has retained her seat. With 98% of the vote counted Hale beat Republican Mike Friedman by 51 to 49%.
9:28pm – REP. KARLEE MACER RETAINS HER LEGISLATIVE SEAT – Rep. Karlee Macer who’s campaign was rocked by the story of her independent opponent getting arrested for “stalking” her has easily won re-election. With 96% of the vote counted Macer has 52% of the vote to Republican Bradford Moulton’s 45%. There was controversy over a mailer sent out about the stalker which had Macer’s GOP opponent crying foul. Obviously it made no difference.
9:20pm – SULLIVAN, ECHOLS, BENTLEY APPARENT IPS SCHOOL BOARD WINNERS – Fueled by their own contributions in excess of $100,000 and aided by unprecedented spending by outside groups like Stand for Children and others that spent upwards of a half million dollars on glitzy direct mail ads, flyers and paid campaign workers, one former IPS school board member is returning to the board along with a former state legislator and a woman who will be the youngest IPS Board Member in history. Mary Ann Sullivan apparently bested four challengers in the IPS At Large Seat. With 72% of the vote counted, Sullivan has 45% of the vote against her next closest challenger Annie Roof with 21%. In the District 3 race, Kelly Bentley has captured over half the vote against incumbent Samantha Adair-White and James Turner. And long time incumbent Board member Michael Brown goes down to defeat against Lanier Echols who will be the younger IPS Board member ever. Echols garnered 56% of the vote to Brown’s 44%.
8:37pm – MORE ON ABSENTEE BALLOT MESS – The reason absentee ballots haven’t yet been included in the vote totals on this blog and elsewhere isn’t the fault of the Marion County Election Board or volunteers hard at work counting them. It’s the direct fault of the Legislature passing a law requiring only Marion County to count absentee votes this way. No one asked for this law. It was rammed down the county;’s throats. Many warned it would mess up reporting vote totals Election Night. And we were right. Now, absentee totals are beginning to be added to the vote totals.
LATEST ON SCHOOL BOARD RACES
8:15pm – WARREN & WAYNE TOWNSHIP SCHOOL BOARD – With 37% of the vote counted, the top five voter getters is the Wayne Township School Board race are: Michael (Mike) Morrow 1,368; Michael Nance 1,249; Rochelle Olaleye 1,214 and Brandon Bowman 1,156. In fifth place currently is Stanley Ellis 1,101. Top 4 vote getters win. In Warren Township with 55% of vote counted, top four vote getters are: Tony Mendez 1,751; Michelle Wright 1,595; Terri Amos 1,468 and Catherina (Catina) Boggs 1,302. Top 3 vote getters win.
8:04pm IPS- In the IPS race, the candidates backed by big money are leading. In Dist 5 Lanier Echols leads incumbent Michael Brown 59% to 41%. But big money candidates are leading in the other IPS races but not with a majority of the vote. In the At large race with 51% of the vote in, Mary Ann Sullivan has 44% of the vote, followed by Annie Roof 21%, Dr. David Hampton 17%, Ramon Batts 11% and Josh Owens less than 10%. In the District 3 race Kelly Bentley has 45% of the vote, James Turner 28% and Samantha Adair-White 27%. That’s with 30% of the vote in.
7:55pm – WHAT’S BEHIND ANDRE CARSON’S VOTE TOTALS – With 45% of the vote in the Congressional District, Rep. Andre Carson is having the most difficult election he’s had since he won in 2008. One problem is several key areas for Carson haven’t reported. Just 18% of Pike Township vote is in, 9% of Washington Township, 15% of Lawrence Townships have been counted. Warren Township vote is at 47%. A lot of the far southside vote isn’t in. The strong vote totals for Cat Ping is a major surprise. Have to see is this an upset or problem with the extra slow vote counting tonight.
7:40pm – DEMS LEAD COUNTYWIDE RACES STILL – With 21% of the vote in, Democrats solidly lead the countywide races. Prosecutor Terry Curry leads Duane Merchant 60.4% to 39.6%. Sheriff John Layton leads Emmitt Carney 59.2% to 40.8%. In the Clerk’s race Democrat Myla Eldridge leading Christine Bischoff 53%-47%. In the Recorder race Democrat Kate Sweeney Bell 52.3% to Republican terry Dove 41.6% and Libertarian Chris Bowen’s 6.1%. In the Auditor’s race Democrat Julie Voorhis 55% to Republican Tracy McCarty’s 45%.
7:33pm – THE TOWNSHIP RACES – As expected Republicans are dominating the township paces in their strongholds of Decatur, Perry and Franklin Townships. Democrats in Pike and Center. Washington and Lawrence haven’t reported totals yet. But the races between the parties in Warren and Wayne are seesaw affairs. In the Wayne Trustee races GOP Trustee Andy Harris has traded the lead several times with Democrat Renee Pack. The same in Warren township between Democrat Vernon Brown and Republican Michael Heady. These races may not be decided until the last few precincts are counted. Maybe…
7:11pm – GOP PRECINCTS STARTING TO COME IN – Starting to get results from predominantly Republican areas of the city/county coming in. Democrats still lead in all the countywide races. No contest looks anywhere close. The races for Warren Township and Wayne Township Trustee are tight. Want to wait for more returns to see a trend. The Democratic candidates Vernon Brown and Renee Pack are leading at this point but very close. In the IPS race, the margins Mary Ann Sullivan and Kelly Bentley had early are starting to slip but they have comfortable leads in the at large and District 3 contests.
7:00pm – FIRST RETURNS FROM IPS DISTRICT 5 – With just one precinct, incumbent Michael Brown leads big money candidate Lanier Echols 59% – 41%.
6:47pm – FIRST IPS BOARD RESULTS – With 2 precincts counted, the Big Money candidates are leading. In the IPS At Large Race Mary Ann Sullivan has 39% of vote, followed by Dr. David Hampton 24%, Ramon Batts 17.5%, Annie Roof 14% and Josh Owens 5%. In the District 3 IPS Race, Kelly Bentley at 62%, Samantha Adair-White 26% and James Turner 13%.
6:40pm – FIRST RESULTS – The first results of the 2014 are in, one precinct in center Township and its overwhelmingly Democratic. Gee was anyone surprised?
6:24pm – CLARIFICATION ON ABSENTEE BALLOT COUNTING – Now Election Board is saying that when they publish election results tonight, those results WILL includes in person votes today AND absentee AND early voting results. This COULD delay when we first start to see vote totals tonight, but at least the results will be complete. If this all sounds confusing, blame the Republican majority Legislature. No one in Indy asked for changes in how absentee votes are counted.
6:13pm – COUNTING OF ABSENTEE BALLOTS – In 2013 the Legislature made Marion County the only county in the state that has to count their absentee ballots in a central location. Not at the individual precincts. There are some 14,000 absentee ballots to be counted tonight. These include the 6,753 persons who early voted. These absentee ballots are being counted right now at the Marion County Election Board’s Central Processing Center on the east side. When the count is completed, the totals will be integrated into the vote totals provided the media and the public from the Marion County Election Board. We’ve asked them to notify media when absentee ballot data is included in the vote count. We’ll keep you informed.
6:08pm – SUPERIOR COURT JUDGES – There were sixteen candidates running for sixteen positions for Marion County Superior Court. All have won tonight. We will be reporting as the night goes along the top vote getters and whether one party takes the top eight positions. The judicial winners are: Democrats: Annie Christ-Garcia, Barbara Cook Crawford, Angela Davis, David Dreyer, Shatrice Flowers, Christina Klineman, James Osborn, Marcell Pratt. Republicans: Cynthia Ayres, David Certo, PJ Dietrick, Kurt Eisgruber, Gary Miller, Marilyn Moores, Tim Oakes, Marc Rothenberg. Crawford, Flowers, Pratt and Ayres are African-American.
6:05pm – AUTOMATIC WINNERS. With the polls closed there are a number of candidates who have automatically won in their election races today. These are candidates who were unopposed in their elections. Here are the automatic winners.
St. Sen. James Merritt (R) Dist 31. St. Reps Edward DeLaney (D) Dist 86, Speaker Brian Bosma (R) Dist 88, Rep. Mike Speedy (R) Dist 90, Rep. Cherrish Pryor (D) Dist 94, Rep. John Bartlett (D) Dist 95, Rep. Justin Moed (D) Dist 97, Rep. Vanessa Summers (D) Dist 99 and Rep. Dan Forestal (D) Dist 100. County Assessor Joseph O’Connor (D). Franklin Township Trustee Keith Smith (R ). Small Claims Judges Myron Hockman (R)/Decatur Township, John Kitley Jr. (R) Franklin Township. Decatur Township Constable Darrell McGaha (R), Franklin Township Constable Jeff Duhamell (R). Franklin Township School Board – Scott Sullivan, Dawn Downer, Larry Walker all elected. Decatur Township School Board Dist 1 Cathy Wiseman won. Washington Township School Board William (Bill) Turner and Donald Kite both elected today.
3:30pm – LIVE BLOGGING STARTS JUST AFTER 6PM!!
