FREMONT, Ohio — Sandusky County residents get three days this week to choose who speaks for low-income residents on the board of the region’s community action agency. Online voting for Great Lakes Community Action Partnership’s Sandusky County board seat opens at 8:30 a.m. Monday and closes at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to the Fremont-based agency’s candidate and voting notice, reported by Firelands Current.
Two candidates are seeking the seat for the 2027–28 term. Frances Benlein is identified in GLCAP’s notice as secretary of the Sandusky County Senior Site Council and a former teacher and assistant principal, Firelands Current reported. Stacey Smith is identified as director of the Sandusky County Family & Children First Council and a licensed social worker, according to the same agency notice.
The seat is not ceremonial. Community action agencies are built around boards that include representation from the low-income community they serve, alongside public officials and private-sector members, and this seat is the one Sandusky County residents themselves fill by vote. GLCAP delivers the everyday services many county households touch first — from energy assistance and housing help to early childhood and senior programs — and its board sets the direction for that work across northwest Ohio.
The rules for this week’s vote are simple, and the agency stated them plainly. Voters must live in the county where they vote, and GLCAP employees and immediate family members of staff cannot vote, Firelands Current reported from the agency’s notice. The Sandusky County ballot link is posted on GLCAP’s homepage, the agency said.
Sandusky County is not the only seat being settled this cycle. In neighboring Ottawa County, Ashley Walterbusch is unopposed for that county’s low-income representative seat and will retain it, GLCAP said. Nominations for the seats have closed, according to the agency’s notice.
The vote arrives as community action agencies across Ohio carry a heavy share of the state’s household safety net. Heating assistance season is opening, food and housing costs remain the top calls agencies report fielding, and the people who govern those programs include — by design — representatives chosen by the low-income residents the programs exist to serve. A low-turnout board vote still decides who sits in that chair for two years.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What we know: the candidates are Frances Benlein and Stacey Smith; the term is 2027–28; voting is online only through GLCAP’s homepage link, opening Monday at 8:30 a.m. and closing Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.; and Ottawa County’s parallel seat is uncontested. What we are still waiting on: GLCAP has not announced in its notice when results will be published or how vote totals will be shared; that timing is expected after the Wednesday close.
For Sandusky County households that use GLCAP services — or might need them this winter — the election is a rare direct say in how a major local service agency is governed. The ballot takes minutes, costs nothing, and is open to any county resident who meets the agency’s eligibility rules.
What happens next: voting runs from 8:30 a.m. Monday, Nov. 9, through 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11, via the ballot link on GLCAP’s homepage. The winner takes the Sandusky County low-income seat for the 2027–28 term.