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Preliminary results from the Kankakee County Clerk’s Office show which school boards across Kankakee County will gain new members and which will see incumbents maintaining or losing their seats after Tuesday night’s consolidated election.
See the outcomes of contested races below:
Kankakee School District 111
In Kankakee School District 111, three incumbents and one newcomer emerged victorious in the race for four four-year terms.
Jess Gathing Jr., Tracy Verrett and Darrell Williams were reelected, and Susan Lopez was elected for her first term.
Another newcomer, Kathy Yancy Smith, was elected to fill an unexpired two-year term.
Lopez, with 2,375 votes (22.66% of total votes), was the highest vote earner of the six candidates seeking four-year terms.
She will replace board member Mary Archie, who did not run for reelection.
The next highest earners were Gathing with 2,132 votes (20.34%), Verrett with 1,923 votes (18.35%) and Williams with 1,734 votes (16.55%).
Challengers Reginald Bell and Dajon Casiel were defeated, earning the lowest vote totals of the six candidates. Bell earned 1,491 votes (14.23%), and Casiel earned 825 votes (7.87%).
Smith earned 2,034 votes (67.82%) in the race to serve an unexpired two-year term.
Smith defeated Cynthia Veronda, who earned 965 votes (32.18%) after serving a three-month appointment following the death of former board member Deb Johnston.
Veronda, who ran as a write-in candidate, previously served on the board from 1991 to 1995.
Bourbonnais Elementary School District 53
In Bourbonnais Elementary School District 53, four incumbents defeated two challengers in the race to fill four four-year terms.
Jamie Freedlund, Erika Young, Betsy Keller and Stephan Moulton were reelected.
The four highest vote earners were Freedlund with 2,202 votes (20.71% of the total votes), Young with 2,200 votes (20.69%), Keller with 2,033 votes (19.12%) and Moulton with 1,739 votes (16.35%).
Defeated with the least amount of votes were challengers Kevin Haberzetle with 1,301 votes (12.23%) and Fredda Rodewald with 1,160 votes (10.91%).
Board member Brian Fritz, running unopposed, will fill an unexpired two-year term.
Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School District 307
In BBCHS District 307, three incumbents defeated three challengers in the race for three four-year terms.
Ann Brezinski, Jim Patterson and Sally Martell were reelected.
The three highest vote earners were Brezinski with 2,318 votes (23.95% of the total votes), Patterson with 2,153 votes (22.25%) and Martell with 1,937 votes (20.01%).
The three defeated challengers include Mark Parson with 1,131 votes (11.69%), David Schumer with 1,094 votes (11.30%) and Chris Borchardt with 1,045 votes (10.80%).
Manteno School District 5
In Manteno School District 5, one incumbent and one challenger emerged victorious in the race for two four-year terms.
Challenger Mary Crowe was elected, and incumbent Joshua Stauffenberg was reelected.
Meanwhile, incumbent Jim Hanley was ousted, earning the lowest total votes of the three candidates, according to unofficial results.
Crowe was the highest vote earner with 2,067 votes (40.55% of total votes).
Stauffenberg earned the second highest number of votes with 1,532 (30.06%).
Hanley fell close behind with 1,498 votes (29.39%).
St. Anne School District 24
The race in St. Anne School District 24 was close, but incumbent Louie Farber gained the most votes in both Kankakee and Iroquois counties.
Farber and challenger Samanthia Baines were both vying for one four-year term on the Kankakee County ballot.
Farber earned one more vote than Baines in Kankakee County, with 278 votes (50.09%) compared with Baines’ 277 votes (49.91%).
In Iroquois County, Farber earned 50 votes (79.37%) and Baines earned six votes (9.52%). Mark Hodge also appeared on the Iroquois County ballot for the four-year term, gaining seven votes (11.11%).
On the Kankakee County ballot, Hodge was a write-in candidate for an unexpired two-year term. Tanya Duncan also ran as a write-in candidate for this seat.
The Kankakee County Clerk’s Office reported that 263 write-in ballots were counted. However, the number of votes each write-in candidate earned were not immediately available Tuesday night.
Kankakee County Clerk Dan Hendrickson said the write-in vote totals will not be official until canvassing is completed in the next couple of weeks.
This story will be updated once official results are confirmed.