Incumbents throughout Morrow County varied well in the Nov. 7 general election.

Jenifer Murphy Burnaugh, Morrow County’s municipal court judge, was elected to her second six-year term on the bench.

Two new mayors were selected in open races on election day. Troy Ruehrmund, current president of the Cardington Village Council, will succeed three-term, retiring incumbent Mayor Susie Peyton. Vicky Smith ran opposed for the post of Edison mayor. Donna Carver, appointed to the mayoral spot of Mount Gilead last year, was elected in her own right to her first four-year term, too. Fulton Mayor-Elect Terri Hickman was unopposed for her third, non-consecutive term as the leader of her village. Chesterville Mayor Paula Bowman, Marengo Mayor Austin Whited, and Sparta Mayor Kottia Jarvis all ran for reelection without any opposition.

Village council seats are empty in a handful of villages as no petitions were filed before the deadline to run. Both village council spots in Chesterville, two in Edison, one in Fulton, and both in Marengo did not feature candidates on the ballot. For Cardington, Quinn Maceyko was the top vote-getter with two-term incumbent Steve Burton clinching the second seat. Steve Fissell, current Fulton Village Council president, was voted in for an unprecedented sixth term as a member of the governing body. Chris Sherbourne and Mark Phillips were selected for their second terms as village councilman for Mount Gilead. Sparta Village Council members Stephen Neeld and Kenneth Price were given the nod by voters to serve another four years in their capacity for their village.

Almost all township trustee and fiscal officer races had only the incumbents run for reelection with no competition. Of those that did have enough candidates for a contest, Bennington Township saw incumbent Steve Lewis beat out perennial candidate Steve Serio by 68 votes for another term. Shelly Adkins defeated current Bennington Township Fiscal Officer Jill Hunter in her bid for a second term. Jonathan Bosh, trustee for Congress Township, took 57% of the vote over competitor Dan Beal. Art Close, trustee for Peru Township, was victorious in his race against newcomer Matt Fisher by 109 votes. In the closest race for a township trustee, Troy Township saw Michael Heston escape John Teaters by eight votes of another four-year term. Randy Bucher Jr. ran without opposition for the open seat of Lincoln Township trustee.

Three school districts experienced elections with more candidates than seats open this fall: Cardington-Lincoln, Mount Gilead and Northmor.

All three incumbents on the Cardington-Lincoln Local Schools Board of Eduation — Matt Clinger, Chad Holt, and Sarah Struck — were reelected by hefty margins over the other two vying for a seat on the board of education. Holt, appointed in January 2022, was elected in his own right to a full term. Matt Longsdorf, appointed to the governing body in June, was voted in to the unexpired Holt vacated.

Brandie Salisbury, incumbent on the Mount Gilead school board, was given a second term by voters in her school district as she was the top vote-getter. Amanda Staley edged out fellow candidate Bob Grandstaff for the second seat up for election by 20 votes.

Northmor witnessed incumbent Tim Bachelder carry the first seat handedly with newcomer Lisa Cramer taking the second spot by a comfortable margin over Daniel Sipes and Eric Baldinger.

Highland Local Schools had a relatively quiet race as two individuals ran for two open seats. Eric Thacker, who lost his race in 2021 for reelection but was appointed back to the board after Jessica Clark’s resignation in 2022, was elected as was John Messmer, who sought reelection without competition. Bill Short, who won a write-in campaign for a seat in 2019, chose to run for and was selected to finish out the unexpired term of the seat Thacker vacated to run for a four-year term.

Levies, both renewals and replacements, had tremendous success in passing this election. The new additional levies, the Cardington-Lincoln Public Library and River Valley Local Schools, only for parts of Morrow County, got the nod of approval by voters. The Cardington-Lincoln Public Library won by over 200 votes for its ask of a five-year, 1-mill operating levy. River Valley Local Schools won its two precincts in Morrow County by two votes for its mix of bond issue and tax levy which padded to its lead in Marion County.

The Morrow County Board of Developmental Disabilities was dealt a blow by the county’s voters with its replacement levy losing by 8 percentage points. Voters in Cardington voted down both renewal levies in the village, while Mount Gilead Exempted Village Schools lost its campaign for renewing its earned income tax for another five years by 305 votes.

For more results, visit the Morrow County Board of Elections website at boe.morrowcountyohio.gov.