This story was corrected on May 7, 2009
Barnesville's three incumbents were re-elected during the town's biannual elections Monday night.
Mayor Pete Menke and Commissioners Bonnie Brown and Luke Fedders were the only candidates running. Menke received 41 votes and Brown and Fedders each received 30 votes, according to Town Clerk Patty Menke, who is Pete Menke's wife. Write-in candidates Jim Brown and William Price each received two votes, and Glen Pearcy tallied one.
Pete Menke, 67, has served on the three-person commission for 34 years and has been president for the last eight, while Brown, 49, has held her position for 16 years. Fedders, 40, has served four years.
The commissioners will select their next president, known informally as the mayor, at the next monthly town meeting at 7:30 p.m. May 18 at Town Hall, 18001 Barnesville Road.
Forty-four people, 42 percent of Barnesville's 104 registered voters, cast ballots in the careworn cigar box that has been a feature of town elections for decades.
"Got to vote for the commissioners, got to do my civic duty," said Carolyn Rast, 47, who lives across the street from Town Hall.
Most residents walk to Barnesville's Town Hall for elections, and the driving rain and lack of challengers may have hurt voter turnout, the commissioners and volunteers said. Fifty-one percent of voters came out in 2007, down from 70 percent in 2005.
On Tuesday morning at Poolesville's Town Hall, residents cast their votes on who will replace former Commissioner Tom Yeatts, who was elected to a four-year term in 2006 and resigned in March.
Six candidates — Joyce Breiner, Lori Gruber, Roy Johnson, Jennifer Kasten, Josh Maisel and Bob Pierce — are vying for the seat, the largest slate of candidates in any town election.
"It's amazing that we have so many great candidates, and it's a great testament to our town," Kathy Jankowski, 49, said. "I'm thrilled to see so many qualified candidates."
Several voters said they were pleased to see three women in the running and that more diversity is needed on the all-male Commissioners Board.
"We need to mix it up and get a female's point of view, something fresh and different this election," said Cheryl Deitz, 48, who cast her vote for Gruber.