Democrat Enters Sheriff's Race

Yesterday was the last day for parties to fill vacancies on the general election ballot when no one ran or was nominated in the primary. For example, the County Board District 1 race will be having Ben Chapman (more on his write-in campaign here) join the fray. It appears that there will be another addition to the 2018 General Election ballot, this time for County Sheriff. From the News-Gazette website yesterday:

Lake Land instructor, officer running as Democrat for Champaign County sheriff

A longtime criminal-justice faculty member and police officer for Lake Land College in Mattoon is the Democratic candidate for Champaign County sheriff.

Dustin Heuerman, 37, announced Monday that the Champaign County Democratic Party has slated him to run for sheriff against Republican Chief Deputy Allen Jones in the November election...

Before coming to Lake Land in 2010, Heuerman worked as a patrol officer and field training officer for the Champaign County Sheriff's Office for two-and-a-half years.

Heuerman said he wants to look at providing alternatives to incarceration...

Heuerman said he favors providing help for drug offenders...

Heuerman said he wants to make domestic-violence victims comfortable enough with the sheriff's office to report abuse...

Heuerman said he opposes any jail plan that would increase the number of beds.

"It may be more efficient to have one facility as opposed to two, but we need to re-purpose the jail to address special populations of offenders," he said.

More including quotes on these policy positions at the full article here. The Cheat Sheet Elections and County Office races pages will be updated this week to reflect these and any other additions this week.