12 file for 4 Owosso council seats; 10 county offices drew nobody

Twelve people are running for four seats on the Owosso City Council this November, the most crowded local race in Shiawassee County, according to the unofficial candidate list the county clerk's elections office posted for the Nov. 3 state general election.

The Owosso field, all nonpartisan, is Nicholas Albertson, Mike Cline, Lee Mills, Curtis L. Dowds, Jane Ferraro, Joseph Hammontree, Gil Humphreys, Susan Kofta, Richard E. Maurer, Christopher D. Owens, Galen R. Ponder and Sean Harrington. Filing dates on the list run from July 10 to July 21.

At the other end of the ballot, 10 local offices in the county drew no candidates at all. The list shows blank lines for mayor of Laingsburg; Corunna's Ward 3 council seat; village president in Bancroft, Morrice and New Lothrop; partial-term village trustee seats in Lennon, Morrice and New Lothrop; a partial-term Laingsburg Community Schools board seat ending in 2030; and a partial-term Perry Public Schools board seat ending in 2028.

The Current reported earlier that Morrice Village President Todd Scott is off the November ballot and plans to run as a write-in. The clerk's list confirms no printed candidate for that office.

Several other races have fewer candidates than seats. Perry's city council has three seats and one filer, Kamal T. Ghazi. Bancroft's village council has three seats and one filer, Edward Labadie. Morrice's village council has three seats and one filer, Robert K. Peterson. Byron Area Schools has four seats and two candidates, David Harris and Richard Whaley. Morrice Area Schools has four seats and three candidates.

School board races are contested in three districts. Laingsburg Community Schools has five candidates for three six-year seats: Margaret Sayles, Christian Ragsdale, Renee Gutzman, Cindy Doyle and Shane Brink. Owosso Public Schools has five candidates for four seats: Joshua Firstbrook, Nick Henne, Rick Mowen, Shelly L. Ochodnicky and Olga Quick. Ovid-Elsie Area Schools has three candidates — Joshua D. Miller, Doug Meisel and Mary Thompson — for two seats. A partial-term Durand Area Schools seat drew two candidates, Katie Rice and Mandy Marsh.

Countywide, the road commissioner's six-year term is a two-way race between Democrat Emily S. Olson of Owosso and Republican Dave O'Berry of Morrice. In the 71st state House district, Republican Brian BeGole of Perry faces Democrat Stephen Schlaack of Owosso. Circuit Judge Matthew J. Stewart, the 35th Circuit incumbent, is unopposed. In Woodhull Township, five candidates filed for five partial-term park commissioner seats, among them Alyson Bawks, Adam Witzel, Keith Young, Chelsea Moore and Katie Drury. Corunna Mayor Wayne LeDuc and Perry Mayor Randy Hazel are each unopposed.

At the top of the ticket, county voters will choose between Democrat Jocelyn Benson and running mate Winnie Brinks and Republican John James and running mate Jay DeBoyer for governor, with Libertarian, U.S. Taxpayers and Green tickets also listed. The U.S. Senate race lists Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers. In the 7th Congressional District, Democrat William Lawrence, Republican Tom Barrett, Green Shane Dedrick and Working Class Party candidate Felix Thibodeau are on the ballot.

What happens next: the list is marked unofficial and was generated Aug. 31, so names can still change through withdrawals and certification, and write-in candidates do not appear on it. The clerk's elections office has not published a write-in filing deadline or a count of write-in filings with this document. The election is Tuesday, Nov. 3.