With a smaller ballot than normal, Monroe County officials say they are preparing for a much cheaper municipal election in November.
Monroe County Elections Supervisor Karen Wheeler says the municipal ballot will have fewer candidates than previous years with only a select number of republicans and independents set to run.
Incumbent City Clerk Nicole Bolden and Mayor John Hamilton are uncontested in their races. Wheeler says this small ballot makes the election easier to facilitate and cheaper.
“It’ll make the price of the election go down because instead of having 21 polling sites, I will have nine polling sites,” she says.
Independent candidates seeking a place on the ballot had to file a petition with a certain number of signatures by noon Monday to qualify for their races.
In March, Bloomington native Nile Arena announced his intention to challenge Democratic mayor John Hamilton as an independent. Wheeler confirmed Arena did not have enough signatures to advance in the race.
Six democratic city council candidates will advance forward from the May primary elections.
The ballot’s only Republican candidate, Andrew Guenther, will face Democrat Sue Sgambelluri for the District 2 seat.
Two Independent candidates, Marty Speckler and Nichohlas Kappas, are running for District 3.
The clerk’s office will still accept write-in candidates until Wednesday.
Wheeler says if no write-in petitions are submitted, ballots will only be needed for the contested races in District 2 and 3 rather than for the entire city.
