Slate for Marathon County elected offices nearly complete

Damakant Jayshi

The candidate slate for three Marathon County partisan positions is complete and the ballot placement drawing will take place on Friday, but the deadline for register of deeds has been extended through Thursday afternoon.

The Marathon County Clerk’s office reports that Incumbent Register of Deeds Dean Stratz did not submit nomination signatures by the deadline of June 3. The deadline for submitting candidacy paperwork and a minimum of 500 valid signatures has been extended until 5 p.m. Thursday to allow for other potential candidates, according to a notice issued Monday by the county clerk.

So far, one candidate has emerged for the register of deeds position, with two candidates each for clerk and treasurer.

Since all candidates for the four-year term of the county clerk, treasurer and the register of deeds are from the Republican Party, the winning candidates are guaranteed election in the November general election, according to the candidate tracker maintained by the clerk’s office. No Democratic candidates have submitted paperwork.

“All the candidates are from one party, so the primary election will determine the office holder for the next four years, even though they will be on the November ballot unopposed,” County Clerk Kim Trueblood told Wausau Pilot & Review.

The ballot drawing on Friday will only be conducted for the county clerk and the county treasurer for the Aug. 13 primary ballot.

Trueblood and Treasurer Connie Beyersdorff are seeking reelection to their positions. The county clerk is being challenged by Marathon County’s Senior Administrative Specialist Toshia Ranallo. Beyersdorff will face off with Jen Seliger.

For the register of deeds, Jennifer Lemmer is the sole name on the ballot so far. Lemmer told this newspaper she has worked for 29 years for the Marathon County, including as assistant register of deeds. Lemmer is currently the office manager at the Sheriff’s Office, the board president of North Central Community Action Program and a member of the Marathon County Deputy Sheriff’s Benevolent Association.

Seliger did not reply to questions from this newspaper.

Candidates did not submit signatures

Two candidacies have been rendered invalid. The incumbent register of deeds, Stratz, did not submit the required nomination signatures, according to the candidate tracker. Similarly, a candidate for county clerk, Dawn Batchelder, did not submit nomination signatures by the deadline of Monday, June 3.

Stratz declared his candidacy on April 18 and filed campaign finance paper on the same day. This newspaper has reached out to Stratz by email for comments but he did not respond by press time.

Trueblood told this newspaper that the law requires that if an incumbent does not file a declaration of non-candidacy or nomination papers, the filing deadline has to be extended by 72 hours. That same law applies to a non-partisan election if the incumbent doesn’t file non-candidacy or nomination papers.

Meanwhile, Batchelder told Wausau Pilot & Review that although she had submitted initial paperwork (declaration of candidacy and campaign finance) she chose not to proceed.

“I have chosen to back out and not be candidate for the Marathon County position,” she said. “It’s just not the right time in my life.”