Voters cast ballots for mayor today
By BARRY HALVORSON bhalvorson@journal-spectator.com

SAMUELSON

It is Election Day with voting in the municipal, school board and other elections around Wharton starting at 7 a.m. and running through 7 p.m.

In the city of Wharton, voters can cast their ballots at the Wharton Civic Center, with a race for Mayor at stake between councilmen David Samuelson and Domingo Montalvo Jr.

In East Bernard,

voters can cast their ballots in the city, school and special emergency district elections at the East Bernard Library.

In addition, residents of the Elm Grove area, designated as school district 2 on a voter registration card, can vote in the EBISD election at the Elm Grove Community Center.

The El Campo voting for the city and school board is at the Fire/EMS building. Those residents of the Glen Flora area, ECISD voting district 2, can vote in the school board election at the Glen Flora Fire Station. Houston C10940 E. B. Air Conditioning The unofficial early vote total for Wharton was 225 ballots while the numbers were 352 in East Bernard and 1,443 in El Campo - 1,143 for the school district and 1,028 for the city. A breakdown of East Bernard votes was not available.

MONTALVO

In Wharton, the only contested race is for mayor with Montalvo vying for the spot against Samuelson. Incumbent Mayor Bryce Kocian chose not to run for re-election. Running unopposed for two-year council terms are Lewis Fortenberry, District 2; Don Mueller, District 4; and Jeff Gubbels, at-large Place 6.

The school district election was canceled based on no opposed candidates.

The East Bernard ISD election features a contested race between Roland Orsak and Terry Hlavinka for Position 1. James Vincek is unopposed for Position 2.

The city election includes a contested race for mayor between Wayne Robinson and Buck Boettcher while Tobias Martin Hlavinka and Thomas Vacek are running unopposed for Alderman Place 2 and 4, respectively.

The city is also holding a special election on the adoption of a local sales and use tax at onefourth of 1 percent to provide revenue for maintenance and repair of municipal streets.

Voters in portions of the East Bernard area will also vote the Wharton County special election to create and maintain Wharton County Emergency Services District No. 2. The election would generate tax revenue to support the East Bernard EMS service.

In El Campo, the city council election has seven candidates for three at-large positions. They are Phillip Spenrath, Kenneth Martin, Jimmy Roppolo, Richard Young, Tim Ryan, Otha Edison and Henry Dornak, Jr.

The ECISD board election features two contested races, Paul Soechting and Tommy Turner for Position 6 and Melissa Kainer Erwin and Clayton Ryan for Position 7.

All of the candidates names appear in the order in which they appear on the ballot.

There is no Boling ISD election this spring. Under a change in state law to encourage polling place consolidation, those school district that do not include any incorporated areas, like Boling, will hold their elections in connection with the November general election.