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Third time a charm for Markle
The third time proved the charm for Fred Markle, who won the Ward 5 Linton City Council seat after two prior attempts.
Markle, a Democrat, won 116 votes to Republican newcomer Kegan Inman's 35.
"It's a beautiful day! I'll definitely say that," said Markle, speaking with incoming Mayor John Wilkes, who ran unopposed Monday. "It turned out pretty good at the end, just one of those nice days to be out campaigning. I've seen a lot of friends and a lot of good people. I just want to thank everybody for their support."
Markle said voter turn-out was down, generally, despite the nice weather. He attributed that downturn to changes in state laws which closed precincts where no contested races were on the ballot. With contests in Linton limited solely to Wards 5 and 7, many longtime voters trekked out to the polls only to find they couldn't vote. That, Markle believes, discouraged voting, and Wilkes concurred.
"I'd like to see it go back to the way it was," Markle said. "People wanted their right to vote."
Markle, 58, is a downtown businessman who's worked extensively with Pride in the Park and downtown development.
Inman, 22, is a college student at Indiana University majoring in arts administration. Monday's election marked his first bid for office, and he may run again.
"I'm not going to rule it out," he said.
The two candidates met early Monday at the polls.
"I got the chance to talk to Fred this morning, and I'm very confident he will do a good job," Inman said. "This is probably what's best for the city, and it will be moving forward in a good direction, I think."
"Kegan had some stuff to do at school, and was pretty busy today," Markle said. "But we are both good friends and it will be the same thing now that the election's over. The same was true with Jerry (Ellett)," whom Markle defeated in the primary.
Markle defeated current Ward 5 City Councilman Ellett, 64, in May after Ellett beat him twice previously in the Democratic primary.
That defeat meant whoever won Monday, the Ward 5 seat would be held by a newcomer in January.
Inman ran unopposed on the GOP ticket in that primary. Ellett's loss marked the first time Markle made it into November's election.
In the 2007 primary, Ellett defeated Markle 206 votes to 137.
In 2003, Ellett won 244 votes to Markle's 139.
Ellett served as a city councilman for four terms.
His defeat meant Ward 7 Councilman Nigel Lehman, a Democrat with 16 years service and re-elected Monday, now has the longest tenure on the council.