Voters choose Poulter and Eyster for Chelsea School District Board of Education

By Crystal Hayduk

The two new members of the Chelsea School District Board of Education will be Keri Poulter and James Parry Eyster.

The six-year terms will begin Jan. 1, with a ceremonial oath of office taking place at the board meeting on Jan. 14.

Voters had their choice among four candidates who hoped to find their place in one of the two seats that were being vacated by Anne Mann and Greg Rhodes.

With 11 precincts of the district reporting and 100% of the votes tallied, the final results were posted on Washtenaw County’s website at 4:15 a.m. Poulter received 30.17% of the vote, while Eyster took 25.96% of the vote.

Voter turnout in the district was high for a mid-term election at 74.7%. Only 55.61% of voters cast ballots in 2014, the last mid-term election.

Eyster was the clear winner among the two precincts in the city of Chelsea with 1,385 votes, while Marina Martinez-Kratz took 1,287 of the total city votes. Poulter earned a respectable 1,204 votes in the city.

However, Poulter was the favorite among township voters, earning 2,824 votes, pushing her into a clear lead among all four board candidates.

There were 30 unidentified write-in candidates, which accounted for 0.22% of the votes.           

The final total counts were as follows: Keri Poulter – 4,028, James Parry Eyster – 3,465, Marina Martinez-Kratz – 3,436, Ryan Barney – 2,390.