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ALPENA -- After months of knocking on doors, chatting with voters, and making their case why they were the best choices to be trustees on the Alpena Public School Board of Education.
Evan Carlson, Incumbent Sarah Fritz, Claire Kipfmiller, and Kayla Ratz won the four board seats up for grabs in the early morning hours of Wednesday.
Incumbent AJ MacArthur, Lindsey Klein, Robert Bruning, and Vincent Thomas did not receive enough votes to earn seats.
The order of the top-four vote getters shuffled several times as votes arrived and were tallied at the Alpena County Clerk's office.
It appeared that MacArthur was going to make the cut, but a batch of votes to Presque Isle County from Krakow Township, and Presque Isle Township, knocked the incumbent out of the top four.
Evan Carlson
The candidates in order of most votes to least votes received in Alpena County, Krakow Township, and Presque Isle Township are:
– Kipfmiller: 6,584
– Ratz: 6,094
– Carlson: 5,885
– Fritz: 5,823
– MacArthur: 5,788
– Klein: 5,433
– Bruning: 5,396
– Thomas: 4,780
Claire Kipfmiller
Kipfmiller said that finding out she won was "wild." She said she woke up at 3 a.m. and her husband told her the results. She went back to sleep and woke up again to many messages of support.
"Waking back up and getting messages from just everybody being so excited was amazing," Kipfmiller said.
She said it's very surreal.
"Of course you always hope you're going to win," she said. "I'm really looking forward to working with everybody. I'm ready to get in there and get started."
Carlson said the race was closer than he would have liked it to have been, but that he was confident in his campaign.
He attributes the win to his volunteer team, campaign efforts, and his consistent messaging.
"Voters agreed with my vision to put students first and remain community focused," Carlson said.
Ratz said she is excited about the win and is looking forward to January.
"I'm excited, I'm looking forward to January when we actually get to be part of the whole bit," she said.
Fritz thanked the community for their support.
"I would like to thank the Alpena community for trusting me again to represent the Alpena Public Schools," she said. "I will continue to support the students, teachers, and staff, and the strategic plan and help to ensure the future of the district."
The new school board members will begin their terms in January.