Low voter turnout leads to close races in Jasper; not so much in Huntingburg

With only 1,536 votes cast in Tuesday’s primary, two of the three contested nominations for November’s election were very close.

Incumbent Mayor Terry Seitz edged past challenger Steve Messmer by only 44 votes with a final count of 674 to 630.

Seitz, who celebrated with the Dubois County GOP at the Jasper VFW, was happy and didn’t seemed phased by the close margin of the victory. “I won the 2011 primary by 40 votes,” he said about the 2011 three-way race for the Republican nomination. “It kind of prepares you for the fall election.”

About 2,300 voters turned out in the 2011 primary election.

“I haven’t really thought about it,” Seitz continued. “I think I have to be refocusing on what we were elected to do. It is interesting that a few years ago no one ran for mayor of City of Jasper and today we have a lot of interest and I think we created that. We created a primary in 2011 so this isn’t new for me.”

Seitz said even with the challengers stepping up and the close primary, he couldn’t think of anything he would have done differently over the past three years. He planned on coming to work on Wednesday to continue his duties with the city as normal. Seitz, who is challenged by Democrat Wayne Schuetter, said he plans on ramping up his campaign in the fall leading up to the November election.

Messmer didn’t make an appearance at the Jasper VFW, the traditional GOP election night gathering place, but did offer congratulations to Seitz by phone.

“I thank everyone who supported me over the past year and I want to wish the city well in the next four years,” Messmer said in a phone interview with Jim O’Neal of WITZ AM/FM Tuesday night.

In another close race, John Bell and Scott Blazey faced off for the Republican nomination in Jasper’s District 2. Bell prevailed 224 to 184.

Bell was surprised how fast the results were returned; he found out about his win during an interview with The Herald.

Bell and Blazey are friends and the two decided to run a friendly race. “I told Scott about my intentions and right then and there he said, ‘I’m not going to say anything bad about you. I can’t even think of a negative thing to say about you anyway,'” Bell said. “And, I said the same thing. We were friends then and we’re friends now.”

Both men worked hard in the district to spread the word about their intentions. “We both talked to a lot of people and knocked on a lot of doors,” Bell said. “We both put forth our best effort and we are both satisfied we worked as hard as we could.”

Blazey echoed Bell’s statements in regards to the friendliness of the pair’s race. He pointed out that many people in the community know both of men. “I could see it people’s faces as they were coming up to the Jasper Armory to vote,” he said. “They knew both of us and had this look like they didn’t really know who to vote for.”

Blazey said he may still consider running for a political office in the future. “I was really encouraged by the amount of support and the close race,” he said. “I am kind of exhausted now, but after I let it all soak in, I might decide to do something again in the future.”

Bell’s only challenger in November is Adam Auffart, who is running on the Democrat ticket.

In Huntingburg, challenger Jeff Bounds defeated current District 2 Councilman Alex Blackgrove 83 to 23 for the Republican nomination.

Bounds stated his win was an exciting step for him and his efforts to be a part of the future of Huntingburg. “This win means a lot. Knowing the support from the Republican side was so positive Tuesday, I am certainly not intimidated about a November election,” Bounds said.

Although another candidate has not stepped up to oppose him in the election, they have until July to file their candidacy. “I have to continue to expect someone will step forward to oppose me for the November election,” Bounds said.

The primary meant a bit more to Bounds than his election to the Township Trustee Advisory Board last November. “Interesting part about that is that voters always pick the top three and in the history of the township advisory board race their has never been more than three candidates in the hat,” Bounds laughed. “So, technically I was elected to the position but it was pretty much by default.”

Bounds explained that he plans on following through with the plans set in motion by Blackgrove in his role on the Stellar Communities initiative for the City of Huntingburg. “Alex did a good job in his first term and he was a big part of the Stellar Community project and I think he deserves a lot of credit for that,” he said. “He should get some credit for the success of that program.”

For Bounds, the validation to his efforts came during the day while he and his friends stood outside the Huntingburg Event Center. “We were speculating about how important it was to be standing outside there all day,” he said. “Then, later in the day, a gentleman came up and said he had some things he wanted to talk to me about.”

According to Bounds, the man offered up a list of issues and concerns that he felt needed addressed. “It certainly confirmed to me why I wanted to stand there and meet people that were coming out to vote,” he said. “There are people that have real ideas, real concerns and real complaints and that is what this is all about.”

Don Hayes, chairman of the Dubois County GOP, stated he wasn’t that disappointed in the low turnout. “Our goal in the Republican Party is to have a diverse organization that represents a lot of different people and organizations,” he said. “When you have a primary, you can have that situation.”

Hayes said Tuesday’s primary was the first one since he became involved in the process in 1975 that the Democrats didn’t have a contest in the primary.

“No one told Steve Messmer he couldn’t run in the primary. We were glad and he did a wonderful job campaigning,” Hayes said. “So he deserved his count (votes). But it is a challenge to encourage more people to participate.”