Uncontested incumbents cruise to primary victories locally

Primary voters went to the polls in Grundy County last Tuesday, and there were no surprises: all of the local incumbents up for re-election ran uncontested and won, and the favorites for state and national office also cruised to victory.
           
Three Grundy County supervisors—Jim Ross of district one, Chuck Bakker of district three and chairwoman Barb Smith of district five—won their Republican primaries handily. Ross received 82 votes, Smith received 66 and Bakker received 49. A total of seven write-in votes were cast.
           
Sheriff Rick Penning, a Republican, coasted to a win in his primary race as he captured 393 of the 395 votes cast (there were two write-ins), and County Auditor Rhonda Deters won her primary with a clean sweep of all 392 votes cast in that race. No Democrats have filed paperwork to run against the incumbents in any of these local contests. 
 
Read more in this week's Grundy Register.