Cindy Young will return to the Boone County Board of Education after defeating challenger Robin Shumate for the Division 4 seat on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Young received 53% of the 6,118 votes cast in the race, according to election results from the Kentucky Secretary of State reported by LINK nky. Shumate received 47%. The win gives Young, who was first elected in November 2022, a second four-year term on the five-member board.
The bigger surprise came in Division 5, where write-in candidate Jerry Rich won a seat.
No candidate names were printed on the Division 5 ballot. Rich collected 55% of the 71 total votes cast, beating three other write-in candidates: Brandon Ashcraft with 19.7%, Linda Kunkel Schild with 16.9% and Brenna Penrose with 8.45%.
Results
Results below are based on Kentucky Secretary of State data as reported by LINK nky on Nov. 3. Both races were non-partisan.
Division 4 (6,118 total votes)
Candidate | Votes (%) | Result |
|---|---|---|
Cindy Young (incumbent) | 53% | Won |
Robin Shumate | 47% | Lost |
Division 5 (71 total votes, all write-in)
Candidate | Votes (%) | Result |
|---|---|---|
Jerry Rich | 55% (39) | Won |
Brandon Ashcraft | 19.7% | Lost |
Linda Kunkel Schild | 16.9% | Lost |
Brenna Penrose | 8.45% | Lost |
Division 4 drew more than 6,000 voters.
Rich replaces Karen Byrd, a longtime board member who did not seek reelection. Byrd had served on the board for more than three decades, according to LINK nky. A 2023 LINK nky profile described her as a 28-year member at that time. The city of Florence and Boone County declared Oct. 9 as "Karen Byrd Day" during her tenure.
"I am just a mom who believes in public education," Byrd said in that 2023 profile. "I haven't done anything fantastic."
Byrd also served as president of the Kentucky School Boards Association, according to the profile.
As we reported Nov. 3, Boone County voters also chose new leaders in the county judge/executive race and several other contests on the same ballot.
Young challenged then-board chair Julia Pile in November 2022 and took office in January 2023, according to LINK nky's Division 4 archive. She will begin her second term on the board that oversees one of Kentucky's largest public school districts.
