New School Board Numbers Show Martin Appears to Have Beaten Guerrant

Above: Kyle Guerrant and Nichole Martin

With additional votes coming in from the portion of Clinton County within the East Lansing School District but outside the City of East Lansing’s borders, Nichole Martin appears to have won the third open seat on the East Lansing Board of Education. ELi and other news outlets had previously reported Kyle Guerrant as having won the third open seat.

Current Board of East Lansing Trustees Erin Graham and Hillary Henderson remain the top two vote getters in Tuesday’s election.

Nichole Martin received 5,667 votes when the votes from Ingham County are added together with Bath Precinct 5. Kyle Guerrant, deputy schools superintendent for the state and who we had announced as the winner of the third seat, appears to have actually lost out to Martin by 16 votes.

DeWitt Precinct 6 is also in the East Lansing school district but no votes were cast in that race, Clinton County Clerk Diane Zuker told ELi this afternoon.

All results are unofficial until the two counties’ Boards of Canvassers finish certifying the results, said both Zuker and Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum today. The certification is expected to happen late next week.

The results of the election were unclear for the last few days in part because the East Lansing School District spans two counties—Ingham and Clinton—as does the City of East Lansing. The Clinton County website shows the total number of votes cast in the race by county residents. Meanwhile, the Ingham County Clerk’s Offices results included a portion of Clinton County residents who reside within the city of East Lansing and voted in East Lansing Precinct 17. Also voting in the race were residents in the Bath Precinct 5 and DeWitt Precinct 6 who are in Clinton County and East Lansing School District but not included in the Ingham County results.

“Bath Charter Township Precinct 5 and DeWitt Charter Township Precinct 6 are the two precincts that will be certified by the Clinton County Board of Canvassers and forwarded to the Ingham County Board of Canvassers for certification of the East Lansing Public School Board Election,” Byrum wrote in an email today.

At stake are three 4-year-terms which would begin in January.