Write-in candidate wins Kansas mayoral race with more than 70% of the vote

Write-in votes swung the balance in at least one Sedgwick County race, unofficial election results show.

Write-in candidate Charlie Martin captured 138 votes in the Andale mayoral race, easily surpassing the 48 votes cast for Jeremy Cawood, the only candidate who filed to run.

Results will not be finalized until after provisional votes are accounted for by the Sedgwick County Board of Canvassers.

The board, which consists of county commissioners and their proxies, approved 810 provisional ballots to be counted Friday morning. The board will meet again Tuesday afternoon to certify results.

County Election Commissioner Angela Caudillo said that overall, 49,066 ballots were cast in Sedgwick County, accounting for 15.19% turnout of registered voters.

With provisional votes still unaccounted for, Tracey Pribbenow leads Rex Satterthwaite 39 votes to 36 votes in the Bentley mayoral race. Write-in candidate Shannon Koehn collected 34 votes.

In Viola, where no candidates filed to run for mayor, Jay Robert Lindal appears poised to win with 14 write-in votes to Debra Devlin’s seven.

With three at-large seats up for grabs on the Viola city council, only Loretta Donham is assured a victory with 24 votes. Write-in candidates Ashley Zogelman, Ginger Simon and Rob Friess are tied with four votes. If provisional votes don’t break the time, the remaining two seats will be determined by random draw.

Write-ins accounted for more than 25% of votes cast in the Goddard school board at-large race, but unofficial results show they didn’t affect the outcome of the race.

Amanda Vrana and Rachel Murphy split the write-in votes almost evenly, leaving the three at-large seats to Ginger Rose, Ruth Wood and Mark Richards.