Garr earns board spot via write-ins

Carrington School District voters had their say Tuesday about who would represent them for the next three years, and they appeared to be sending a message.

Fifty voters took the opportunity to write-in and unofficially elect local dentist and business owner, Dr. Ben Garr, to the at-large member position.

Garr's 50 votes represented 78 percent of the total vote, as a mere 65 people cast ballots in the annual election.

The incumbent for the three-year at-large position), Randy Hooey, received 11 votes. Three others received one write-in vote each: Paul Straley, Rick Geier and Tom Painter.

Incumbent Angela Kutz ran unopposed and skated to re-election with 61 of the 65 votes cast for the three-year rural member position.

Brandon Gussiaas received three write-in votes and Holly Inglish received one vote for the open rural member position, according to early results.

On the question of publishing the minutes of school board meetings in the local newspaper for the next two years, it was a unanimous "yes" from voters. All of the 64 voters who answered that question put a check mark in the "yes" column, according to the unofficial results sent to the Independent by Kimary Edland, the school's business manager.

Edland said Wednesday that she had no requests for absentee ballots this year, so all votes counted were cast at the polls.

She also noted that voter turnout was about average when compared to recent years. In the 2022 election, a total of 56 votes were cast, which included some absentee ballots.

The Carrington school board will canvass and certify the election results at their next meeting, set for Monday, June 19 at 8 p.m.