By Sue Moore
Voters in Vicksburg and Schoolcraft villages and school districts will elect nonpartisan council members and school trustees in the November general election. The filing deadline to run in those elections is Thursday, July 26 at 4 p.m. All other countywide candidates for partisan political office have already filed their petitions with the Kalamazoo County clerk.
Terms of four trustees and the village president position held by Keith Gunnett will be filled on the seven-member Schoolcraft Village Council. The council terms held by Russell Barnes, Mike Rochholz and an open seat following the death of Carl Tackett will be on the ballot. An election to fill the remaining two years of a term now held by Sy Spears, appointed to fill Scot Dailey’s seat, will be on the ballot.
All other terms in the village, school and library elections are for four years unless they are to fill an existing vacancy.
There are currently two Schoolcraft Community Library seats up in November. They are held by Kelly Bergland and Ron Gammill.
The Schoolcraft school board has two seats up for election. They are currently held by Matt DeVoe and Skip Fox.
In Vicksburg, voters will fill three council seats now held by Colin, Chris Newman and Gail Reisterer and that of the village president currently held by Bill Adams.
Candidates for any village or school board office must file with the Schoolcraft Township clerk at the township hall. They will need a maximum of 20 signatures and a minimum of 6 for Schoolcraft and Vicksburg with the exception of the Vicksburg school board candidates who need 40 minimum and 100 maximum signatures to successfully file.
The Vicksburg school board seats up for election are currently held by Rudy Callen and Tina Forsyth.
The ballot in the general election will be a long one because the national, state, county, township, and villages will be at stake. “Voters should plan to study carefully the down ballot candidates as they impact citizens’ daily lives far more than that of the president of the United States,” according to Tim Snow, Kalamazoo County clerk.