Wanda English Burnett, Editor

While Ripley County voters put the McCain/Palin ticket on top with 7794 votes over Obama/Biden’s 4187, those figures did not hold true across the nation.

More people than ever stepped forward to cast their ballots changing the politics of the country at the highest level, placing Democrat Barack Obama in the President’s seat, with Joe Biden as Vice-President.

The courthouse lobby was full of people watching the races as the results scrolled on screens as they came in from the 27 precincts, cheering for their candidates, and overall enjoying the political comraderie that takes place on Election Day in Ripley County.

Clerk Ginger Bradford noted that the process went very smoothly, which she accredits to teamwork. “Everyone was trained and they did their job,” she told The Versailles Republican. She reported that in Franklin Township a machine malfunctioned.

However, this only momentarily disrupted the voting process because a back up machine was in place for just such an instance. She noted that training was the key, and said even the newest poll workers were fantastic.

She credits the training and willingness of the poll workers to work together to the fact that just a little before 8:00 p.m. every precinct had reported to the courthouse and the results were tallied.

Bradford noted that there was four percent less votes cast this presidential election over the 2004 one. This year the percentage of voters was 58%, with the 2004 showing 62% voting. In the beginning it looked like there would be more due to the requests for absentee voting, but it all evened out with the county seeing less percentage voting than last time.

State results:
Ripley County voters reflected the choice of the state for Governor giving incumbent Republican Mitch Daniels the seat with 7347 votes over challenging team Thompson/Oxley with 4342 votes, followed by Libertarian Horning/Kelly getting 402 votes.

In other state races, county voters put Republican Greg Zoeller ahead for Attorney General with 6693 votes, Democrat Linda Pence received 4850 votes. Superintendent of Public Instruction Republican Tony Bennett received 6702 votes with Democrat Richard D. Wood having 4605 cast for him in the county.

Democrat Baron Hill incumbent US Representative will retain his seat, but not from the Ripley County voters. Republican challenger Mike Sodrel pulled ahead of Hill with 6083 votes, Hill had 5483 votes, followed by Libertarian candidate D. Eric Schansberg with 511 votes.

State Representative for District 67 incumbent Republican Cleo Duncan won overall garnering 5711 votes from Ripley County, followed by challenger Democrat Mike Keller having 2379 votes cast for him, and Marty Voegele, Independent, getting 806 votes.
For the District 68 State Representative seat, Democrat Robert Bischoff retained his seat getting 1096 local votes, with challenger Republican Jud McMillin getting 1027 votes.
Democrat David Cheatham retained his seat for District 69 for State Representative getting 581 votes from Ripley County voters, with challenger Republican Floyd Coates getting 378 votes.

Local races:
One of the most closely watched races in the county was the Superior Court Judge seat. Incumbent Judge James Morris and wife Sally, watched the monitors in the lobby of the courthouse on election night as the results came in. Morris, on the Republican ticket, came away the winner with 6552 votes over challenger Democrat Lynnette Fledderman, who garnered 5465 votes.

Judge Morris said Fledderman was a formidable opponent, saying it was a good, clean race. He noted that he will continue to serve the people of Ripley County with the same fair judgment he has practiced for the past 12 years. He said he will work diligently to address the serious problem of alcohol abuse in the county.

Fledderman told The Versailles Republican she had really enjoyed campaigning, saying she has met a lot of neat people in the process.

Republican Mary Ann McCoy handily defeated Democrat David Forwalt for the Circuit Court Clerk seat with 8057 votes over his 3720 votes. McCoy, who has been in politics for many years noted she felt privileged to serve the people and will look forward to her new position. She currently serves as county auditor.

Two commissioner seats
decided:
Republican Mark E. Busching defeated Democrat Michael W. Baker by 811 votes. Busching received 6230 with Baker getting 5419 votes. This was for the District 2 position for county commissioner.

Republican Gerald Stutler defeated Democrat Tim Taylor by 1138 votes. Stutler had 6348 votes with Taylor taking 5210 votes. This was for the District 3 position for county commissioner.

County Council choices made:
Voters had three out of five choices for County Council At Large. The top three were: Donald Dunbar, 6591 votes; William Warren, 6367 votes; and William Dramann with 6260 votes.

Osgood Town Council member unseated:
Democrat DeDee Holliday defeated incumbent Republican Jeffrey Volz by five votes. Holliday had 285 votes to 279 for Volz. Before the results rolled in, Holliday and her husband, Barry, gathered at the courthouse to watch the results. She noted that she is looking forward to serving the Town of Osgood as a council member. Tamara Wilhoit, Republican, had no opposition and will remain the clerk-treasurer for the Town of Osgood.

Holton Town Council results:
There were no challenges for the Town of Holton Council race. Krista Bartosz was voted in as Clerk-Treasurer with 84 votes, with council members Angi Farrell, Paul Hughes and Ryan Lauber, retaining their seats.

South Ripley School Board
results:
There were no upsets in the race for South Ripley School Board positions. All of the incumbents retained their positions. Randel McIntosh had 1498 votes over challenger Denise (DeDe) Fields with 1275 votes; Gil Landwehr had 1390 votes over challenger Charles Gambrel with 1357 votes; and Keith Mathews will serve again with 1635 votes over challenger Jerry Gilpin with 1254 votes.

Batesville School race:
Michael Bettice defeated Chris Lowery by 40 votes.

Sunman Dearborn School race:
Brandon Burress had no opposition and received 732 votes for District 2 seat; David Anderson won over Darrell Salatin by 181 votes.

Uncontested races:
Ginger Bradford received 9305 votes and will serve as the County Recorder on the Republican ticket; Republican Earline Copeland received 9360 votes and will continue in her position as County Treasurer; Republican Ron Buchanan received 9143 votes and will remain County Coroner and Democrat Carl Taul will remain Circuit Court Judge with 8387 votes.

Ripley County has 21,234 registered voters and there were 12,415 ballots cast, making the turnout a little more than half. According to Clerk Ginger Bradford, the process went smooth with the first precincts coming in around 6:40 p.m., which were Otter Creek 1 and 2. The final results were tallied by 8:00 p.m.

WANDA ENGLISH BURNETT PHOTOS ABOVE: A large crowd gathered in the lobby of the courthouse in Versailles on Election Night to watch the results come in. A New York film crew was also filming the process for their voting process film project (see related story below). LEFT: Judge James Morris and wife Sally, hug each other when the final results came in saying he would retain his seat as Superior Court Judge. Commissioner Robert Reiners looks on with others who watched the race intently.