The final results are in for Macon County. Only 64 mail-in-ballots were returned after election day, and no Decatur results changed from the preliminary results counted on April 4th.
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Election Winners
- City Council: Lisa Gregory, Pat McDnaniel, Dennis Cooper
- School Board: Bill Clevenger, Will Wetzel, Mark Reynolds
- Mayor: Julie Moore Wolfe
- Park Commissioner: Shelith Hansbro
- Preliminary Richland Trustee Results: Wayne Dunning, Ben Andreas, Marcy Rood
- County Auditor: There will continue to be an elected County Auditor.
About the election
There was contention over the Decatur School Board race and the Decatur City Council race. City Council saw 4 candidates compete for three seats. Two incumbents & one former council member won, edging out Macon County Demcorat Chair (and county board member) Karl Coleman by over 300 votes.
Karl had expressed hope on election night, noting that mail-in-ballots tend to skew Democrat. However, only 64 additional mail-in-ballots were returned afterward, and these municipal races don't list a political party on the ballot.
School Board was a very competitive race, with 8 candidates initially vying for only 3 seats. Two candidates dropped out, meaning half the remaining candidates were elected.
Richland Trustees saw some competition, with Marcy Rood (former Macon County Board member who lost her re-election campaign in 2022) winning the write-in vote over Anthony "Tony" Albertina. Unsurprisingly, the two candidates actually listed on the ballot dwarfed the votes counted for either write-in candidate (Over 6,000 for Wayne Dunning. 349 for Marcy Rood). (Note: These Richland results are preliminary. We are awaiting a final count, since this race involved voters in multiple counties.)
The referendum to eliminate the elected position of County Auditor overwhelmingly failed (5402 NO, 2979 YES), meaning a new County Auditor will be elected in 2024 (Current Auditor, Carol Reed, says she is retiring).
Among three other races in Decatur, there was no competition. Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe was re-elected, after both her challengers (Abeer Motan & Mary Williams) were disqualified due to petition signature challenges.
Shelith Hansbro (previously appointed) was the only candidate running for one available Decatur Park Commissioner seat. There were no candidates for the Macon/Piatt Regional Office of Education #39, which had six available seats.
Additional Election Coverage
- Preliminary 2023 Election Results - by Reed Sutman
- Candidate Profiles - by Reed Sutman
- 2023 Voter's Guide - by Reed Sutman, a comprehensive & condensed guide of the 2023 Decatur races.
- Macon County Vote Totals - Official vote counts from the County Clerk
- Vote Totals - by WAND
- Do we need a County Auditor? - by Reed Sutman, an interview with Carol Reed.
- Voters to decide fate of Macon County auditor position - by Taylor Vidmar, Herald & Review
- School Board Candidate Forum written by Reed Sutman; Hosted by Coalition of Neighborhood Organizations.
- City Council Candidate Forum written by Reed Sutman; Hosted by Coalition of Neighborhood Organizations.
- Meet the candidates for Decatur school board by Scott Perry, Herald & Review
- Herald & Review's 2023 Macon County Election Series
- Decatur school board candidates hoping to fill 3 seats in April election by Alyssa Patrick, WAND
- Past Election Vote Totals