Open ballot spots remain for west end elections, Lutsen & Schroeder still need candidates

NOTE: This was the candidate filing status as of Tuesday evening, January 6.

COOK COUNTY – Lutsen and Schroeder townships still needed candidates for some of the open positions on the spring election ballot as we went to press. The candidate filing period ends at 5 p.m. Tuesday, January 14, in each township. Tofte township also has a spring election but has candidates for the open spots. The three township clerks provided an update in phone interviews.

Lutsen – Four of the five Lutsen elected positions will be on the spring ballot and no candidates have yet filed, Clerk Sharon Hexum- Platzer told the News-Herald. That includes the three-year supervisor position now held by Andrew Beavers and the one-year supervisor position that Elis Walch was appointed to. Walch has stated that she is not running again. Hexum-Platzer said she has been encouraging someone to run for the clerk office and says she would help a new person fit into the position.

The position of Treasurer Paul Goettl is also on the ballot for a one-year term. Goettl was appointed to the position last spring when there was no candidate on the ballot and the write-in winner declined the office.

Schroeder – Township Clerk Doug Schwecke said that incumbent Supervisor Rick Anderson is going to run for re-election but there is still no candidate for clerk, though someone has expressed an interest. Schwecke announced last summer that he would not seek another term and despite open recruiting since then, the office is still open.

Tofte – The incumbents are running for re-election in Tofte, Township Clerk Kay Burkett says. Supervisor Craig Horak is running for another three-year term and Burkett will seek election to the position she was appointed to last May.

Candidates can get on the ballot in each of the towns by filing an Affidavit of Candidacy nomination paper with the town clerk and paying a two-dollar filing fee. Candidates for the township offices must be a resident and voter in the town.

The filing period ends at 5 p.m. on January 14, 2020 (January 15 for Tofte).