Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
The filing deadline for the upcoming local elections has come and gone, and it appears several positions will be contested.
Important positions are open at the county courthouse, city hall and New Rockford-Sheyenne School, and all three will have contested races this year – creating one of the most disputed local elections in recent memory.
For starters, there are three open seats on the New Rockford-Sheyenne School Board: The At-Large position currently held by Todd Allmaras, the former Sheyenne district seat currently held by Patti Larson and the former New Rockford district seat currently held by Mary Kay Price.
Of those three, only Todd Allmaras – the current school board president – is running for reelection.
No one has filed to contest Allmaras for his seat, and only one individual, Leann Drake, will be running for the former Sheyenne district seat to replace Larson. There are several individuals, however, planning to run for the former New Rockford district seat.
Reece Thomas, Matt Pfeiffer and Joseph Newman have all officially filed for election to replace Price.
All three school board seats have 3-year terms, and the school board election will be held at the lobby of the NR-S gymnasium on Tuesday, June 4. The polling location will be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Meanwhile, the New Rockford City Commission at City Hall is expected to have an almost entirely new look.
Four of the five city commission seats are up for grabs, as only commissioner Jim Belquist won’t be up for election this year.
The commission seats currently held by Dillon Hewitt, Justin Ystaas and Kelly McKnight are all up for grabs, and none are running for reelection. The other seat up for election is the Commission President position currently held by Stu Richter.
Richter is the only sitting commissioner running for reelection, and no challengers have come forward to contest his reelection bid.
Meanwhile, four challengers have filed petitions for the two commission seats currently held by Ystaas and McKnight, which are both 4-year terms.
Jacob Dauenhauer, Zachary Fleming, Larry Kraft and Ben Makay are all running for the two positions, and at the primary elections on June 11, the top two vote-getters will join the city commission.
No one, however, is running for the seat currently held by Dillon Hewitt, which is for a 2-year unexpired term.
At the Eddy County Courthouse, meanwhile, only one county commission seat is up for election, and it too will be contested.
That seat is currently held by Glenda Collier, and she will be running for reelection against two challengers: David Schaefer and Joanna Larson.
The top two vote-getters of those three will advance to the general election ballot, where voters will be asked to choose just one.
Eddy County voters will have their say when it comes to the city and county elections on Tuesday, June 11. The polling location will be at the Brown Memorial, and the polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Those wishing to vote via absentee ballot in this year’s primary or school board elections can do so by filling out an application, which is available at SOS.nd.gov and at the Eddy County Auditor’s office.
Those who voted by mail in the previous election will automatically receive an absentee/mail ballot application via mail.
As the elections draw nearer, the Transcript will be facilitating several question and answer articles to get readers more acquainted with the candidates in the contested races.
