Town Elections

Congratulations and good luck to our Republican town candidates!

Paul Hamann
Candidate for Corydon Town Council Ward 2

Lester Rhoads
Candidate for Corydon Town Council Ward 3

Tony Myers
Tyson Uhl
Candidates for Corydon Town Council Ward 4

Doug Castetter
Candidate for Corydon Town Council Ward 5

Melvin Hood
Crandall Town Councilman-Elect (unopposed)

Tammy Eschbacher
Laconia Town Councilwoman-Elect (unopposed)

James Powers
Herb Schneider
Lanesville Town Councilmen-Elect (unopposed)

Robert Crosier
Holly Kingsley
Nancy Kirby
Mauckport Town Councilpersons-Elect (unopposed)

Regina Glass
New Amsterdam Clerk-Treasurer-Elect (unopposed)

Lee McCullum
Patrick Thompson
New Amsterdam Councilmen-Elect (unopposed)

Shana Lyons
New Middletown Clerk-Treasurer-Elect (unopposed)

Fred Lawson
Jordan Morris
Judy Ward
New Middletown Councilpersons-Elect (unopposed)

Deborah Hess
Debra Jones
Candidates for Palmyra Clerk-Treasurer

Gerard Blayton
Wyman Lee Childers
Heather Hug
Debra Ray
Candidates for Palmyra Town Council At-Large (3 spots)

We would like to thank all of these individuals for stepping up to run for office. As George Washington once said, "Every post is honorable in which a man can serve his country." We thank them for being willing to serve.

The deadline to file to run for town office was yesterday at noon. These elected offices are not glamorous and seldom pay much, but they are an important part of local government. They oversee critical things like water, sewers, street repair, trash pickup, and taxes--among other matters--in Harrison County's nine incorporated towns (a tenth town, Milltown, is split with Crawford County).

Many of these town candidates are unopposed and Indiana law does not require elections to be held in towns under 3,500 people in which the elections are uncontested. All of the towns have a three member town board elected town-wide, except Corydon, which has a five-member board elected in wards.

There will be contested town elections this November in Corydon and Palmyra.

In both towns, there are several races in which multiple candidates are vying for the chance to be the Republican nominee on the November ballot in their town (Council Ward 4 in Corydon, and Clerk-Treasurer and Council in Palmyra). This goes to show the level of excitement and interest in these towns for conservative, Republican leadership.

None of Harrison County's towns held a primary election in May, a decision that is made by the town board before filing starts. Under Indiana election law, this means that the process of selecting the Republican nominee for these town offices will be conducted by a process called a town convention. A town convention is a gathering of registered Republicans in the town to hear from the candidates and then vote to select the nominee.

Town conventions are somewhat rare in Harrison County. Only one has been held in the past ten years, and that was in the town of New Amsterdam in 2015.

We are brushing up on the rules for holding a town convention, and will be providing information about the date, time, and location of the conventions in Corydon and Palmyra soon. By law, the convention must be held no later than Wednesday, August 21.