Lincoln Township and the county seats

LINCOLN TOWNSHIP FORMED JUNE 7, 1866 · THE 2026–2027 TRANSITIONS AS OF NOVEMBER 11, 2026

The township around the town is older than the town's government and quieter: Lincoln Township was formed out of Liberty Township by the county board's order of June 7, 1866, and Howard records its boundaries unchanged from that day to his — one of only two townships in the county of which that could be said. Its trustee in November 2026 is Charles Kulp (R) — the same Charles Kulp who served the town as assistant police chief, holding the township's executive office while the town's uniform hangs behind him — and the November 3, 2026 ballot carried him unopposed, so he holds the seat into the term beginning January 1, 2027; the State's Gateway data carries him as trustee in 2025, the incumbency the unopposed ballot confirms. The township board chosen the same day is Ethan Barden, Kelsi Sheaks, and Christopher Winchell, all Republicans and the only candidates for the three seats, who take their seats on January 1, 2027; whether any of the three already sits on the board in 2026 was not established and rides as GAP-WKGOV-10. One flag is printed and left standing: the board's Christopher Winchell bears, letter for letter, the name of the John Glenn School Corporation's superintendent, a Walkerton-headquartered office; no source reached establishes that the township board member and the superintendent are the same man, and this section does not merge them. The township has no assessor of its own — in this county only Penn Township keeps one — so Lincoln's assessing belongs to the County Assessor, an office decided county-wide on November 3, 2026: Victor Cummings (D) defeated Mike Castellon (R), 42,936 to 33,280. At the county layer, printed here at pointer size because the county's course whole belongs to the sister builds, Walkerton's own seats are these. For the Board of Commissioners, the Clerk's official primary record settles a negative: Lincoln Township's ballots in May 2026 carried no District 1 race, though District 1 was the one commissioner seat contested in 2026 — Bill Redman (D) unseated the incumbent Carl Baxmeyer (R) on November 3, 16,735 to 11,924, and takes that seat January 1, 2027 — so Walkerton does not vote in District 1. Its district is one of the other two, whose holders the commissioners' own agenda of August 26, 2025 names: District 2, Rafael Morton; District 3, Anthony "Tony" Hazen; which of the two holds Lincoln Township the record reached does not say, and the assignment rides as part of GAP-WKGOV-6, settled by the county's commissioner district map. For the County Council, Walkerton's letter district is likewise unsettled in the record reached: its seat was not among the five decided on November 3, 2026 — District A to Mike Hamann (D) over Joe Thomas (R), 5,572 to 4,476; District B to Ranjan Rohatgi (D) over Amy Drake (R), 4,594 to 3,404; District C to Jan Cervelli (D) over James O'Brien (R), 5,521 to 5,145; District E to Lori Camp (D), unopposed; District H to Bryan Tanner (D), unopposed, the five taking or keeping their seats January 1, 2027 in a council whose control the same election flipped from a 5–4 Republican edge to 7–2 Democratic — and the letter itself rides in GAP-WKGOV-6, settled by the county council district map and the Clerk's ballot record for Lincoln Township's precincts.

Sources:

1. Howard (1907), Part 49 (Lincoln Township): the township's formation from Liberty, June 7, 1866, and its unchanged boundaries.
2. St. Joseph County Clerk, Precinct Summary Report, May 5, 2026 primary, Official Results: Charles Kulp unopposed for the trustee nomination in Lincoln Township's precincts (147 votes in Precinct 3); the township board primary — Winchell 68 and 121, Barden 55 and 95, Sheaks 46 and 86 in Precincts 2 and 3; and the absence of any District 1 commissioner or decided council-district race from Lincoln's ballots.
3. South Bend Tribune (October 30, 2026): the November ballot — Kulp unopposed for trustee; Barden, Sheaks, and Winchell the only township board candidates. (November 9, 2026): the county sweep and the council's flip to 7–2 Democratic.
4. Indiana Gateway employee compensation data, 2025: Charles Kulp, Trustee, Lincoln Township — the incumbency.
5. WNDU election results (November 3, 2026): the county assessor's race; Commissioner District 1; and County Council Districts A, B, C, E, and H, with the figures printed.
6. St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners, agenda (August 26, 2025), sjcparks.org: District 1, Carl H. Baxmeyer; District 2, Rafael Morton; District 3, Anthony "Tony" Hazen.