Jennifer Schulz was one of the many workers who assisted with the primary vote. You can tell by her eyes that she had a big warm smile beneath her mask as she greeted voters. Staff photo/Brian Larsen
Contests for city positions,
Blank spot on school board ballot,
Fall ballot complete
Gregg Westigard
There will be a full ballot in Grand Marais in November. The school board will have a blank spot for one position. The candidate-filing period for the school and hospital boards and the Grand Marais city government ended Tuesday, August 11. With that, previous filings and the primary election results, we now know who is running for all positions in the county on November third.
Grand Marais city offices
Jay Arrowsmith- DeCoux will be running for another term as city mayor. Kelly Swearingen, a current council member, is challenging him. Five candidates are running for two city council positions. They are incumbent Craig Schulte, Michael Garry, Mike Smieja, Diane Greeley and Tracy Benson. Longterm council member Tim Kennedy announced early that he would be retiring after eighteen years of service.
If you wanted to drop off a ballot, all you had to do was come to the voter station at the front of the courthouse. These very cordial workers were ready to answer any questions or take your ballot so it could be counted.
The city council members are elected at large, for four-year terms, with half the council up each election. The mayor serves a two-year term.
Cook County School
District 166
No candidate filed for the District 4 (Gunflint Trail and Maple Hill precincts) seat on the school board. Incumbent Sissy Lunde had announced that she would not be running for another term and no one came forward to file for the open position. The seat will be filled by a write-in election in November. Carrie Jansen will be seeking re-election as the sole candidate for the District 2 (Grand Marais East and Croftville) seat.
North Shore Health
There will be at least one new member on the North Shore Health board. Mary Sanders is the only candidate who filed for the District 2 seat. Incumbent Justin Mueller had stated that he would not be running for a third term. District 4 board member Kay Olson has filed for re-election to the seat she has held since 2008.
County Board
The Tuesday primary decided who the county board candidates will be. Stacey Hawkins and Myron Bursheim will be on the ballot in District 2. Ann Sullivan and Dean Berglund are the winners in District4 [See the separate story.]
Soil and Water Board
Three incumbents are running unopposed for re-election to the Soil and Water board. On the November ballot are David Grosshuesch in District 1, Joan Morrison in District 3 and John Twiest in District 5. Filling for those positions took place in May.
The Soil and Water board has its own Districts and different rules. The board members must live in their District but are elected At Large, with all county voters voting for all open seats.
Otherwise, the Districts are the same for the school, hospital and county board contests. Residents must live in Districts 2 or 4 to vote for these seats. City residents have their municipal election. The rest of the county residents need to look beyond the county lines for November election contests.
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