By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
ssoldan@mihomepaper.com
Brandon Twp. — The results are in.
On Nov. 5, voters cast their votes for seats in Brandon, Atlas and Groveland townships, village council members in Ortonville and Goodrich, school board members for Brandon and Goodrich Schools, in addition to state and county races.
Locally voter turnout was about 71% about even with Michigan at 70.5%.
In Brandon Township, incumbent Jayson Rumball won supervisor with 7,083 votes against write-in candidate Edward Darbyshire. Incumbent Republican Clerk Roselyn Blair won with 6,289 votes against Democratic challenger Vicki Hale’s 2,802 votes. Treasurer candidate Dana DePalma ran unopposed and tallied 6,923 votes. Likewise, the four trustee positions were all unopposed. Tony Candiloro garnered 6,065 votes, incumbent Bob Marshall snagged 6,003 votes, Scott Strangeland had 5,849, and incumbent Steve Unruh received 5,773 votes.
For Ortonville, village president incumbent Ken Quisenberry ran unopposed and got 477 votes. However, the four-year council seats ended in a shake-up. While incumbents Melanie Nivelt, 310 votes, and Tony Randazzo, 245 votes, retained their seats, candidate Alex Faulker won the third council seat with 217 votes over incumbent Ashley Mould, 181 votes, candidate Rachel Menard, 181 votes, and candidate Alexa Webb, 171 votes.
Incumbent Linda Brooks ran unopposed for the two-year council seat and garnered 460 votes.
“The 2024 General Election was a great success,” said Brandon Township Clerk Roselyn Blair. “Thank you to all the amazing election workers, Clerk’s office team and Brandon Township Voters for making this possible.”
The Brandon early voting site ended with 2,906 voters. The Clerk’s office issued 3,371 absentee ballots and we received 3,205 back for tabulation with a return rate of about 95%. Overall, Brandon Township had a voter turn out of 72%. Precinct one 75.8%, precinct two 76%, precinct three 78.5%, precinct four 78.25%, precinct five 46.8% and precinct six 71%.
Across the Brandon School District, which has voters in Lapeer and Oakland counties, all candidates for the Brandon Board of Education ran unopposed. Incumbents Rebecca Haynes, 4,596 votes, and Hilary Stockoski, 3,868 votes, won the six-year terms. Incumbents Jody Hall, 4,247 votes, and Jeff Zilkie, 4,372 votes, won the four-year terms. Diane Salter, who previously retired from the Brandon Board of Education, won the partial two-year term with 5,009 votes.
In Groveland Township, all races for the township board were unopposed. Supervisor candidate Kevin Scramlin received 2,883 votes, incumbent Clerk Jenell Keller 2,813 votes, incumbent treasurer Theresa Bills 2,829 votes, and the trustee seats were won by incumbents Jim Christopher, 2,512 votes, and Gina Muzzarelli, 2,591 votes.
“The polls were quite steady throughout the day, but for the most part didn’t have terribly long lines,” said Jenell Keller, township clerk. “We had a number of election day registrants which kept us busy. Most of the electors seemed to have a nice and smooth voting experience.”
Groveland Township recorded 5,365 registered voters with 1,364 early voters, 1,210 absent voter ballots processed and 1,369 voted at the polls.
A total of 3,943 voters during November General Election,
Voter Turnout was approximately 73%.
“I anticipated a slightly higher turnout since we were closer to 75-80% in 2020, but either way, still a nice turnout and very similar to 2016 statistics,” she said.
For Atlas Township, incumbent supervisor Jim Busch ran unopposed and garnered 4,052 votes. Clerk candidate Toni Yanklin got 4,000 votes, and incumbent treasurer Ann Marie Moore got 3,956 votes. Both candidates ran unopposed. For trustees, also unopposed, Tracy Butcher received 3,776 votes and incumbent Pat Major 3,606 votes.
In the Village of Goodrich, Johnathan Schlinker was the top vote-getter for village council with 604 votes, followed by David Lucik with 586 votes and Melissa Schluentz with 552 votes. Schlinker and Lucik as the top vote-getters will serve a four-year terms, while Schluentz will serve a two-year term.
Atlas Township reported 7,091 registered voters with a voter turnout of 5,755 voters for the November 2024 General Election, an 81% voter turnout.
A total of 2,039 absentee ballots were sent and received back 1,956 or 95.9%.
The Goodrich Board of Education had two seats open, both won by incumbents Greg Main, 3,267 votes, and Ashley Herriman, 3,353 votes. Candidate Patrick Tesler got 1,865 votes.
Oakland County Seventh District Commissioner incumbent Bob Hoffman kept his seat with 27,497 votes against Democratic candidate Derek Marshall, 13,052 votes. The Genesee County Fifth District Commissioner incumbent James Avery also kept his seat, though by a narrower margin with 13,423 votes against Republican candidate John Wellington’s 12,567 votes.
The 66th House District, which covers Brandon Township and other parts of Oakland and Macomb Counties, kept republican incumbent Josh Schriver with 39,981 votes against democratic candidate Shawn Almeranti-Crosby’s 18,765 votes.
In the 68th House District, which covers Groveland and Atlas Township as well as parts of Genesee County, Republican incumbent David Martin kept his seat with 29,396 votes against Democratic challenger Matt Schlinker with 24,549 votes.