The election of 2026: both townships at the ballot

PRIMARY MAY 5, 2026 · GENERAL ELECTION NOVEMBER 3, 2026

Township officers in Indiana are elected for four-year terms at the general election and take office on the January 1 following: the election of November 3, 2026, therefore chose both townships' governments entire — trustee and all three board seats in each — for the term January 1, 2027, to December 31, 2030, in a county that was simultaneously turning over its own offices wholesale. In Harris Township the Republican primary of May 5, 2026, was the contested round: Trustee Lindsay was renominated over Kathy (Kathryn) Troester, 1,089 votes to 809, and the three board nominations went to Karen Vargo (1,104), Bob Fox (1,071), and Kimberly M. (Lindsay) Gorski (1,028), ahead of Alexa Reynolds Johnson (848) and Billie Limberopoulos (589). Sitting board member Chuck Sulok does not appear among the township's 2026 candidates in either party's record. The Democratic ticket, assembled around trustee candidate Veronica Vos, ran Vos for trustee with Sharon Brinker, Jacob (Jake) Baska, and Ryan Callahan for the board. The general-election ballot of November 3, 2026, in Harris Township therefore read: for trustee, Veronica Vos (D) against Kenneth Lindsay (R); for the board, three to be chosen from Vargo, Fox, and Gorski (R) and Baska, Brinker, and Callahan (D). In Clay Township the ballots were built differently: Sean O'Brien stood as the Democratic candidate for trustee, unopposed in his primary, and the Republican line was filled by caucus — the county party's precinct committeemen, meeting July 2, 2026, placed Matthew "Matt" Clayton on the ballot for trustee. For the Clay board the general-election list printed Democrats Brett Maurer, Patric Richter, and Michelle Shaw against Republicans Kevin Conery, Robbie Thomas, and Lloyd Weldy. Two variances in that Republican line print whole, as the record gives them: the February candidate-filing list spells the board candidate's name Kevin Connery, where the October general-election list prints Kevin Conery; and the July caucus report names Steve Weldy as a caucus-selected candidate for the Clay board, where the October ballot list prints Lloyd Weldy. Whether these are one man under two printings or two men is not settled by the record reached; the settling source is the County Clerk's candidate record, and the variance is carried open in the closing roll. The county around these races voted in a wave: 77,909 ballots, 40.17 percent turnout, and Democratic victories in every county race — the context, printed in the county entry below. The township results themselves are the one thing this section could not pull at first-hand strength: neither the broadcast results service, which carried the county races only, nor the Tribune's election-night and post-election coverage, nor the county's independent results journal — which printed only the races it had profiled, from Congress to the County Council — carried the Harris and Clay township outcomes, and the certified document that settles them, the St. Joseph County Clerk's precinct summary report for the November 3, 2026, general election, had not been reached when this section was built. The races therefore print here as ballots cast and called, with the results carried as the first named gap in the closing roll. The holders of both trusteeships and both boards through December 31, 2026, are as the township entries above print them; their successors take office January 1, 2027.

Sources:

1. South Bend Tribune, May 5, 2026 (full list of St. Joseph County township contested primary results: Harris trustee and board Republican figures as printed); February 2026 (candidate filings: "Kevin Connery"); July 20, 2026 (the Republican caucus of July 2, 2026: Matthew Clayton placed for Clay trustee; "Steve Weldy" named for the Clay board); October 30, 2026 (the general-election candidate list: Harris trustee Vos v. Lindsay; Clay trustee O'Brien v. Clayton; Clay board — Maurer, Richter, Shaw (D); Conery, Thomas, Weldy (R)); November 9, 2026 (county turnout, 77,909 ballots, 40.17 percent; the countywide Democratic sweep).
2. Elect Ryan Callahan campaign site, electryancallahan.com (the Democratic Harris Township team: Vos for trustee; Baska, Brinker, Callahan for board).
3. Indiana township election frame: Indiana Code 3-10-2-13, 36-6-4-2, 36-6-6-2, as carried in the State Board of Accounts' Uniform Compliance Guidelines Manual for Townships (trustee and the three board members elected at the general election every four years).
4. Search record for the results: WNDU election-results service (county races only); St. Joe Current, "St. Joseph County Election Results, Nov. 3, 2026" (profiled races only, from the Clerk's precinct summary report); Ballotpedia county page (no township results); AmericanElectionHQ Harris board page (ballot without figures).