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COOK COUNTY – County voters will have choices for the three school board seats and four of the five county commissioners on the ballot this year when they cast their votes in the November 8 general election. On the other hand, there are no contested races for four county officials, Grand Marais mayor and city council, the Soil & Water board and the hospital board. In addition, the last two boards have blank spots on the ballot where no persons filed for open positions. The final filing period for the fall election ended Tuesday, August 16.
Independent School District 166 (Cook County)
There are now two candidates for each of the three school board seats up for election this year after a flurry of filings and withdrawals on the last days of filing. Incumbent Dan Shirley and Rae M. Piepho are on the ballot in district five (Schroeder, Tofte, Lutsen and Pike Lake precincts). Kim Nelson is running against incumbent Rena Rogers in district three (Grand Marais West and Cascade precincts). Theresa Donovan and Erik Redix are running for the open seat in district one (Grand Portage, Hovland, and Magney precincts) now held by Debra White. Redix and two others, Theodore Rex and Robert Tamanaha, put their names on the ballot on the final filing days. Rex and Tamanaha then removed their candidacies during the following two-day withdrawal period.
Cook County Board
All five county board seats are on the ballot this year after the district lines were adjusted to reflect new census figures. That means that in addition to the three seats normally open in this election cycle, two commissioner seats, in districts two and four, that were on the ballot in 2020 are up again for twoyear terms. Candidates in district one are Yastrianne “Yanne” Spry and Debra White. Incumbent Robert Svaleson did not file for another term. David S. Berglund is running against incumbent Stacey Hawkins in district two (Grand Marais, and Croftville precincts) for a two-year term. District three incumbent David Mills is unopposed on the ballot. Theresa Luther-Dolan and incumbent Ann Sullivan are on the district four (Gunflint, Maple Hill and Covill precincts) ballot for a two-year term. And in district five, incumbent Ginny Storlie faces Bruce Martinson.
The filing period for county board elections was in late May.
Grand Marais
The city of Grand Marais will have some new faces in January. Mayor Jay Arrowsmith-DeCoux and incumbent council member Anton Moody did not file for re-election. Tracy Benson, the other council member whose term is up, chose to run for mayor. That results in two new names on the ballot for city council, Aaron Carlson and Benjamin Peters. All three are running unopposed.
North Shore Health
The hospital board filing period also ended on August 16 with two incumbents running for re-election and one seat with no candidate. The blank spot on the ballot is for district three where incumbent Steve Nielsen did not seek another term. On the ballot are Patty Winchell-Dahl in district one and Randy Wiitala in district five.
Soil and Water Conservation Districts
The Soil and Water board filing ended in May with names on the ballot for two seats and one seat with no candidate. Incumbent Stanley Tull is running for re-election for a four-year term and Gregg Westigard is running for the remaining two years of a term he was appointed to fill. Incumbent David Berglund is running for the county board and no candidate filled for that seat.
Soil and Water uses different district lines than the other boards in the county, based on area rather than population. The five S&W board members are elected on a county-wide ballot and must live in the district they are elected from. The district for the Berglund seat includes all or part of the Croftville, Colvill, Magney, and Gunflint precincts. The Tull district includes the Pike Lake, Cascade, Maple Hill precincts and part of Gunflint. The Westigard district includes the townships of Schroeder, Tofte and Lutsen and part of the Gunflint precinct.
Cook County officials
Four Cook County officials are running for re-election unopposed. They are Auditor/Treasurer Braidy Powers, Recorder Dusty Nelms, Sheriff Patrick Eliasen and County Attorney Molly Hickens.
The Write-in rules
Persons interested in running as write-in candidates for the two blank spots on the fall ballot, hospital board and Soil and Water board, face different requirements. The Soil and Water seat candidate must file a written request with the county auditor’s office in order for their votes to be counted. That request must be filed prior to the seventh day before the November 8 election. A write-in candidate for the hospital board does not need to register for their votes to be counted.
The difference in rules is because hospital districts are considered “local” offices and are not listed in the Minnesota statutes for the “registered write-in” process, according to a response from the Minnesota Secretary of State office. Soil and Water board seats are considered county offices and candidates must follow the Minnesota statute.
The precincts
Cook County is divided into fourteen voting precincts, numbered 1 through 12 with additional precincts 8a and 8B, the latter two formed when they were split off from the large Gunflint precinct 8. As part of the adjustment of the county district lines after the 2020 census, some of the precinct lines were changed and renamed. The biggest change is the new precinct 8B, the “new” Covill precinct, which was split off from the Maple Hill precinct 8A and expanded to include part of the Gunflint precinct. The “old” Covill precinct 3 is now named the Magney precinct.
All the precinct and district lines can be found on the Cook County government website where an updated map shows the boundaries of each of the five county board districts and the precincts in the districts. Search by following Services/MAPP/Election Maps/County Commission Districts. Each district can be enlarged to show the detailed boundaries. A similar link to Soil and Water Conservation Districts shows those boundaries.
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