The filing period for a number of local government boards opened May 17 and will close on May 31, 2016. Although there will be a number of seats on the ballots, at press time only three candidates had filed—the two incumbent county commissioners Heidi Doo-Kirk and Garry Gamble and a challenger, Myron Bursheim.
Gamble represents Commissioner District 2, east Grand Marais. Bursheim has filed to run for that district.
Doo-Kirk represents District 4, which includes Maple Hill and the Gunflint Trail.
The Soil & Water Conservation District has three supervisor seats up for election, currently held by Donald Goodell (District 1); Joan Farnam Morrison (District 3); and Jerry Hiniker (District 5). At press time, none of the incumbents had filed for re-election.
Asked if citizens can choose not to file for election and run a write-in campaign, County Auditor Braidy Powers, who oversees elections, said that is not an option.
“There are no write-ins counted for a primary election,” said Powers. “There aren’t even spaces printed on the ballots and no oval to fill in. If anyone writes a name on a primary ballot in any open space the ballot is considered rejected.”
He explained, “For the general election, write-ins for federal, state, county and soil and water offices have to file a written request and those are the only write-ins we are allowed to count. For local races (city, hospital, school) we have to count any ‘real’ name written in–no imaginary names.”
Another filing period in August
The city of Grand Marais, School District 166 and North Shore Hospital do not have primary elections, so filing dates for those boards is later, from August 2 to August 16.
The North Shore Hospital Board will be seeking candidates in District 2 and 4, currently held by Justin Mueller and Kay Olson respectively.
In the city of Grand Marais, the mayor and two council seats will be on the ballot. Incumbents are Mayor Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux and councilors Tracy Benson and Tim Kennedy.
School District 166 board seats on the next ballot are held by Terry Collins (District 2) and Sissy Lunde (District 4).
If multiple candidates do file for any of the county seats, they will face off in a primary election on August 9, 2016. General elections will take place on November 8, 2016.
For information on how to file for office, contact Cook County Auditor Braidy Powers at (218) 387-3640 or email braidy.powers@co.cook.mn.us.
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