Iron County heads to polls today

HURLEY - Iron County voters head to the polls today in a series of state and local races.

At the state level, voters will decide between incumbent Tony Evers and Lowell Holtz to see who will be the state's next superintendent of public instruction. Annette Ziegler is running unopposed for another term as a justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Iron County Circuit Court Judge Patrick Madden is also running unopposed for another term on the bench.

Iron County's local municipalities also have races on the ballot - including contested races in Kimball, Mercer and Montreal.

In Kimball, Town Chairman Ron Ahonen is being challenged by Joe Simonich. Incumbent town supervisor Ray Kivi will be challenged by Don Decker and Randall Stoltenberg - however, as incumbent John Smith isn't seeking re-election, the three candidates will compete for two seats.

Kimball Clerk Irene Salzmann and Treasurer Pam Backman are running for re-election unopposed.

The other contested town race is in Mercer, where incumbent Jim Kichak is being challenged by John Sendra for the town chairman seat. With incumbent Bonnie Banaszak choosing not to run for another term as supervisor, three candidates - incumbent Jeff Stenberg, Tom Thompson Jr. and James Schmidt - will be vying for two town supervisor seats. Mercer Clerk Christan Brandt and Treasurer Lin Miller are running unopposed.

There is also a seat open on the Mercer Sanitary Board, however no one has filed papers to appear on the ballot.

The city of Montreal also has two seats up for election. In Ward 1, Joan Levra is running unopposed to replace Brian Livingston on the council, while Leola Maslanka is being challenged by Bill Stutz for her seat representing Ward 2.

The other town races, all of which feature unopposed candidates, are as follows:

-Anderson: Edward Brandis is running for chairman, while Jerry Rice and Patrick Hanson are running for town supervisors.

-Carey: Robert Walesewicz is running for town chairman, while Diane Schmidtke and Tom Bainbridge are running for town supervisors.

-Gurney: Tom Innes will seek another term as town chairman, Rick LaFortune and Kyle Thompson will run as supervisors, Denys Vargovich will run for re-election as clerk and Jessie Bender will run to continue as treasurer.

-Knight: Daniel Soine is running for town chairman, Kendall Koski and Owen Garro are running as town supervisors.

-Oma: Steve Finco is running for town chairman, while Robert Matz and Larry Erickson are running as town supervisors. Linda Kuduk is running as treasurer and Denise Schmitz-Enking is running as clerk.

-Pence: Michael Paternoster is running for town chairman, Joe Olson and James Maffesanti are running as town supervisors.

Saxon: Andrew Rowe is running for town chairman, Kelly Thurow and Karl Krall are running as town supervisors. Kathy Brauer is running for another term as town clerk, while the treasurer seat will be a write-in contest, as Sue Brauer is not seeking re-election.

Sherman: Gerald Luke is running for town chairman, Gerald Mikula is running for town supervisor, while the other seat - currently held by Robert Lepper - will be a write-in vote. Amy Slone is running for clerk and Gerard Murrin is running for treasurer.

Both the Hurley and Mercer school boards have members running unopposed for re-election. In Mercer, Micki Pierce-Holstrom and Noel Brandt are seeking another term; while in Hurley, Maria Sokol and Darryl Mattson are looking to continue to serve the district.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.