Voters in Rock Island County cast their ballots in the 2017 April general consolidated election with just slightly more than 16 percent showing up to choose local officials. The 120 precincts in the county reported just 16,293 ballots cast, out of a pool of 99,869 possible voters. The results of the races, and a recap of the election cycle follows below.
South Rock Island Township Results
Democratic incumbent Grace Diaz Shirk waved off a challenge from Republican Rodney Simmer to retain her job as township supervisor. Shirk garnered 2,217 votes to Simmer’s 1,619.
In the race for four trustee seats, Democrats Bill Sowards, Frank Skafidas and Mark Parr were joined by newcomer and Republican Chris Elsburg in defeating Kim Shuda, Gary Snyder and T.J. Krone. Sowards received 1,947 votes, Skafidas got 1,866 votes, Parr recieved 1,810 votes and Elsberg received 1,834 votes.
Rock Island Election Results
Mike Thoms earned more than half the vote to become the new mayor, replacing Dennis Pauley, who decided not to seek a third term. Thoms, who garnered 52.2 percent of the vote, was followed by Andrew Rowe with 21.9 percent, Terry Brooks with 15.3 percent and Stephen Tollenaer with 10.5 percent.
Port Byron Election Results
Village Trustee Bruce Peterson, and independent ousted Republican incumbent Kevin Klute in the race for village president. Peterson earned 155 votes to Klute’s 118.
D. Wayne Oney topped Roger Oliver for a two-year seat on the board of trustee. Oney recieved 174 votes, while Oliver garnered support from only 109 voters. Republicans Brian Bitler and Dustin Sloan along with Independent Patty Lindley won election to four-year trustee terms. They defeated incumbent Scott Sidor and Sarah Ford.
Moline Election Results
Incumbent Mayor Scott Raes was knocked out of his seat by write-in candidate Stephanie Acri, who earned more than double the votes Raes garnered. Acri, an alderman at large, was elected with 3,743 votes against Raes’ 1,485.
The Moline Township Trustee positions will be filled by Mary Beth Loos, Sam Vasquez, Harry Perez, and Rand Wilson. All four democratic candidates ran unopposed, with Loos coming out ahead in the polls of the other winners.
Coe Township Results
The Coe Township trustee race pit an equal number of republicans and democrats against each other with a favorable decision from voters for the GOP. Paul Riewerts, Mike Skelton, Mark Kruckenberg and Tim Baldwin beat out democrats Mike O’Hara, Tony Decap, Glenn Saddoris and Ken Reveal. Riewerts received 150 votes, Skelton received 131 votes, while Kruckenberg came in with 118 votes and Baldwin rounded out the win with 118 votes. Reveal was the poorest performing democrat with only 93 votes, however, none of the democratic candidates broke the 120 vote mark.
The Coe Township Clerk position was also clinched by the GOP with Betsey Morthland beating out democratic challenger Brenn Francisko. Morthland received 132 votes, while Franscisko came in with only 115 votes.
South Moline Township Results
South Moline Township voters decided strongly in favor of GOP candidates with Bob Schultz winning his bid for highway commissioner against democratic challenger Josh Sallows. Sallows received 1,745 votes, but it wasn’t enough to top the 2,251 republican candidate Schultz received.
The board of trustees for the South Moline Township will also be filled with republicans as Mark Lundahl, Brian Forsberg, Lisa Griffin and Andrea Anderson all came out ahead of democrat Robert Saucedo who failed to break the 2,000 votes mark. Lundahl, Forsberg, Griffin and Anderson vote totals came in at 2,293; 2,363; 2,496; and 2,085 respectively.
While the unofficial results are posted, with all precincts reporting in and the Rock Island County Clerk website updated at 8:52 p.m. on April 4, the election results will not be official until Tuesday April 25.
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