Three Incumbents, One Newcomer Elected to Unit 40 School Board

Full Effingham County election returns are located here

The three incumbents seeking re-election will return for new terms on the Effingham Unit 40 Board of Education after Tuesday's election. One newcomer was chosen to fill the seat being vacated by longtime incumbent and current board president, Delbert Soltwedel, who did not seek re-election.

Incumbent Todd Schaefer led all vote-getters with 1,775 votes, while incumbent Carol Ruffner finished second with 1,526 votes. Newcomer Jane Willenborg finished third with 1,411 votes, while incumbent Jeff Michael was re-elected with 1,265 votes.

As far as the other candidates, Matthew Jones received 1,173 votes, Kathleen Smith received 1,117 votes, Peggy Campbell got 866 votes, and Patty Russell received 692 votes.

Some other districts struggled to find enough candidates to fill seats on their boards. In Altamont, Shelly Kuhns with 493 votes, Randy Tillman with 473 votes, and Gary Goldstein with 421 votes were re-elected, but the Board will need to choose someone to fill a fourth seat.

In Beecher City, incumbent Nancy Wolf was the only candidate on the ballot and was re-elected with 205 votes in Effingham County. The district also includes portions of Shelby and Fayette counties. The other three seats will be filled by write-in candidates; Jordan Shields received 66 votes, Lee Rodarmel 49 votes, and Ryan Schaefer 45 votes.

In Dieterich, there were four candidates for four seats; Cory Niebrugge received 184 votes, Dan Shadle 183 votes, Thad Goebel 177 votes, and Douglas Baxter 172 votes.

In Teutopolis, there were three candidates on the ballot for four seats; Brad Koester with 333 votes, James Buhnerkempe 308 votes, and Chandler Hewing 261 votes. The fourth seat will go to incumbent Gene Niemerg, who decided to run again as a write-in candidate and received 37 votes.