ALPENA — Northeast Michigan voters will have several write-in candidates to consider when they cast ballots in the Nov. 5 presidential election.

Friday afternoon was the deadline for individuals to file to run as write-in candidates. Write-in candidates will not see their names on the ballot, and voters will need to write their names down to support them.

Clerks record votes for candidates exactly as they are written, so it is important that voters who wish to support write-in candidates write the candidate’s name exactly as the candidate wrote it when they file their nomination papers with the clerk’s office.

Absentee voting is underway in Michigan and early voting begins today.

In Alpena County alone, seven people have filed to run, with four of them trying to win a seat on the Alpena County Board of Commissioners.

Stephanie Woytaszek is running for the District 1 seat and will need to get more votes than incumbent Republican Bill LaHaie and independent Jeff Welch.

JoAnn Pinkerton, who said she is a Republican, is hoping voters in District 3 will put her name on the ballot to help her defeat Lucille Bray, who is running as an independent.

The race for District 4 commissioner is between incumbent Republican Bill Peterson and challenger Brian Perry.

Carol Bobolts is running as a candidate, trying to defeat incumbent Brenda Fournier, a Republican who represents the county’s 5th District.

Elsewhere in Alpena County, Kendall Sumerix filed as a candidate for a seat on the Green Township Board of Trustees. Two seats are open on that board and only one candidate will appear on the ballot, meaning Sumerix is ​​almost guaranteed to win a seat.

And Alpena County resident Renee Fisher has put her name in the mix for one of three open seats on the Alpena Public Schools Board of Education.

Fisher is hoping to get enough votes to claim one of the seats from incumbents Gordon Snow or Eric Lawson or newcomers Sarah Costain and Monica Dziesinski.

In Hillman Community Schools, the recent death of incumbent trustee candidate Jack Matthias has shaken up the local school board race.

Matthias will still appear on the ballot as the ballots have already been printed. If voters choose him to fill one of the four up for grabs, it would be up to the Hillman school board to appoint someone to fill the vacancy after the election. Hillman Superintendent Pamela Rader said Friday that the current administrator who was planning to resign from the board has agreed to stay on.

However, voters will have four choices for the four seats, as Laurie Nugent, a former longtime Hillman teacher and substitute teacher and current Alpena early college coordinator, has filed to run. She would need to receive enough votes to exceed the number of votes cast for Matthias or one of the other candidates — George Kearns, Roxanne LaFleche or David Picklehaupt II — to win the seat.

In Alcona County, Willam Thompson filed to run as a write-in candidate against Republican incumbent Craig Johnston, who defeated Thompson in the August primary.

In Presque Isle Township in Presque Isle County, write-in candidate Larry Fields is seeking a seat on the township board, which has a pair of seats up for grabs. Fields will try to beat Democrat Mary O’Neill or independent Lyn Loheed to win a seat.

In Posen, Brian Adams is running as a write-in candidate against John Ataman for village president.

Voters must decide who they want to fill the four Posen Consolidated School District board seats. Michael Romanowski filed to run as a write-in candidate against Jesse Chappa, Brian Konieczny, Miranda Puro and Angela Szatkowski.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or [email protected]. Follow X @ss_alpenanews.com.