Crawford, Demas ahead in Yorkville School District Y115 Board of Education election

YORKVILLE – With four incumbents deciding not to seek new terms, the Yorkville School District 115 Board of Education will have four new members.

Eight candidates were running in what amounted to three separate races.

Unofficial vote totals from Kendall and Kane counties appear to show Jason Demas and Darren Crawford in the lead for two available four-year seats from the Bristol Township portion of the district.

Crawford was on top with 1,616 votes to 1,562 for Demas, followed by Leslie Smogor with 1,527 ballots and Jorge Ayala with 1,422.

For the portion of the district south of the Fox River, one candidate will be elected. Of the three running, Michael Houston was leading with 1,334 votes to 1,092 for Molly Gerke and 623 for Wayland W. Middendorf.

Running unopposed for an unexpired two-year-term on the board is Michael Knoll with 2,577 votes.

The incumbents who chose not to run include President Lynn Burks, Tom Kozlowicz, Ashley Rhea Fichtel and Jenny Morgan.

The vote totals do not include all ballots, particularly provisional and late-arriving, mail-in ballots. Vote totals for write-in candidates rarely are released election night and in some cases, clerks do not publish them until results are certified two weeks after the election.