Saugatuck turns out 91.7% for uncontested vote

By Scott Sullivan
Editor
The no surprises expected were realized in Nov. 7 Saugatuck and Douglas city council elections, each for three uncontested 2-year seats.
In Saugatuck, incumbent Russ Gardner’s 244 votes were sandwiched by 250 for Holly Anderson and 223 for Logan White, both newcomers.
Now former council member Garnet Lewis, who withdrew after first declaring, then deciding to move out of town to Saugatuck Township nearby too late to have her name removed from the ballot, was marked in by 54 nonetheless. There were seven write-in votes.
The city saw 778 of its 848 registered voter participate, a 91.7 percent turnout.
In Douglas, only two candidates’ names, those of incumbent Mayor Jerry Donovan and Mayor Pro-Tem Cathy North, were listed. North polled 274 votes and Donovan 269.
Newcomer Fran Ray, the lone write-in hopeful to file with for council with Allegan County, will fill the third open seat, polling 43 such votes.
Add 53 write-ins for the third open seat and the city saw 596 of its 1,375 registered voters show. That’s 43.3 percent.
Commercial Record Correspondent Jim Hayden whose last day as a Fennville city commissioner was Nov. 13, reported two newcomers to that body won the most of 64 total write-in votes.
Sara Slitter received 44 and Carlos Lopez 37; followed by incumbents John Jamros, 36, and Shawn Mahan 32.
The city has 1,079 registered voters, meaning turnout was 5.9 percent, the lowest since the non-general May 2019 election, which clicked just 5.8 percent.
The four city commission seats were the only issue on last week’s Fennville ballot. Names of the candidates, though, weren’t listed, due to petitions deemed insufficient by the current city and Allegan County clerks.