No race so far for Du Quoin school board in April

Barring any write-in candidates there will be no contested election for the Du Quoin Unit District 300 school board in April 2021, as three candidates have filed to run for three, 4-year seats.

Those seats are currently held by Dr. Patrick Riley, Trent Waller and Mark Woodside, and only Waller is running for reelection.

The other two candidates are Steven M. Still and Amy E. Rose.

All school board candidates in Illinois filed with their respective county clerk's offices in December, unlike other April candidates for village boards, community college boards, township boards and park and library boards - all of whom file their candidacies with the governmental body they are aspiring to.

The deadline to file as a write-in candidate is Feb. 4.

Meanwhile, there is more electoral interest in Pinckneyville District 204, where five candidates have filed to run for three, 4-year seats on the school board.

They are: Matthew D. Heine, Jackie Brand, Sean Carter, Brittany Goldman and James L. Williams. Of those, only Sean Carter is currently on the board.

In Pinckneyville Elementary District 50, four candidates filed for the available four, 4-year terms. They are Aaron Johnson, Gideon Hutchcraft, Austin Marlow and Kyle Pursell.

All of them are currently on the school board, and are running uncontested for reelection (barring any write-ins).

For the Pinckneyville Community High School board, four candidates are running for the four, 4-year available seats.

They are Brian Kellerman, Lisa Stanton, Curtis Miller and John Morgan. Kellerman and Stanton are both incumbents; Kellerman was first elected in 2009 and Stanton in 2013.

In Tamaroa District 5, not enough candidates have filed to fill the four, 4-year seats that are available. Three candidates have filed: Alaina D. Marlow, Mackenzie George and Sherri Phillips. George and Phillips are incumbents.

If someone files to run as a write-in, they could well be elected to the board in April. If no one runs, the board will have to recruit and appoint a board member to fill the final vacant seat, after the April election.