Henke, Olson and Lewis Emerge as Winners of Wentzville Board of Education Election
The three leaders were chosen after election day on April 4
After a hard-fought race, Renee Henke, Jen Olson and David Lewis have won the Wentzville Board of Education election.
April 5, 2023
Renee Henke, Jen Olson and David Lewis have been elected to the Wentzville School District Board of Education following the election on April 4.
In a rather tight contest, Henke received 19.69% of the vote, Olson received 18.94% of the vote and Lewis received 17.34% of the vote, according to the St. Charles County Election Authority.
Henke, Olson and Lewis are expected to be sworn in at the upcoming scheduled Board of Education meeting on Thursday, April 20.
After the announcement of the candidates and their submitted biographies in January and the student-led Town Hall on March 28 in which David Lewis, David Biesenthal and Brad Welsh participated, the decisive day of Tuesday, April 4 came: Election Day.
A polling place open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. was set up at Liberty near the auxiliary gymnasium for citizens who wanted to make their beliefs heard on the ballot.
Five contenders were in the race for three open seats on the Board, which were previously occupied by president Daniel Brice, secretary Erin Abbott and director Betsy Bates. These candidates were Jen Olson, David Lewis, Renee Henke, Brad Welsh and David Biesenthal.
John Kaelin, a repeat candidate from the 2022 Board of Education election and former US Air Force officer and civilian in the Department of Defense, had originally been listed as a candidate but withdrew from the election in March. Although the amount of votes that went to him were shown, the word “withdrawn” appeared next to his name on the ballot to signify that his votes would not be considered.
A statement clarifying how the votes would be counted after Kaelin’s cancellation included an explanation from St. Charles County Director of Elections Kurt Bahr, saying, “…[W]hile an accurate tally of votes given to [John Kaelin] will be reflected on the election certification, they do not count and should not be considered when the Board seats the top three vote recipients.”
Victors Henke, Olson and Lewis were all endorsed by the St. Charles County Republican Central Committee.
Read Renee Henke’s bio here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13OeHHC6vYtDPE2FMSAfcB8cjSihLfCvY/view
Read Jen Olson’s bio here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ypcMeE9df7KDMBsGYV5wXFx-EjCdsQVg/view
Read David Lewis’s bio here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YoKNNhN7P4v8CLQFmxe0x4R7dgOD483y/view
