During this past primary election, there were two people on the ballot for Bay District Schools’ Superintendent. Both of these candidates were Republican.

The purpose of a primary election as defined by Oxford Languages is “a preliminary election to appoint delegates to a party conference or to select the candidates for a principal, especially presidential, election.” Since there was no one in the democratic party running for office the vote for superintendent should have been moved to the November election date.

Primary elections have a notoriously low turn-out and in Bay County for this Primary we had an unofficial turnout of 28.75%. Meaning that if we don’t move this to the November 3rd election, we will be silencing the voices of people who were either unaware of the primary elections date or who could not get off of work to go to the election.

The superintendent election is an important one for the students of Bay District Schools (BDS) as Superintendents stay in office for four (4) years, and our Superintendent Incumbent, Husfelt, has already been in office for 12 years.

It is also important to make this a Run-off election because Husfelt won over his opponent by 1.76%. Winning with 50.88%of the vote, a very small margin considering the importance of this role to students and teachers. In addition, two days after the election, information about the District being subpoenaed for corruption has been released. This subpoena was dated July 20th almost a month before the Primaries. This is information that would surely have swayed the way some would have voted.

This is important to me because I am currently a Junior in BDS. Husfelt has been superintendent since I was in Pre-K and I have seen  the effects of his reign on the district and I refuse to sit idly by as he wins by barely even a percent. I want there to at least be a chance for a fresh set of eyes to look upon my school district and try to help it become a better place.