PIERCE — Some 3,964 ballots were cast in Pierce County this year, for an 80.18% voter turnout, a close second only to the 2020 election when the percentage of voters turning out for the Joe Biden-Donald Trump race was at 80.44%.
In the local school board election, Larry Krohn and Mark Moes retained their positions with votes of 567 and 517, respectively, with one open seat left. That position will be filled by appointment of a qualified registered voter by the remainder of the school board.
In the Osmond City Council election, Douglas Schmit (295 votes) and Dennis Haselhorst (287 votes) also retained their seats, with Dennis Kuhl as the lone candidate (345 votes) continuing as mayor of the City of Osmond.
Other Local Races
For Pierce County Commissioner of District 1, Republican John Steinkraus was the lone candidate and received 1,111 votes.
In the race for Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District, Jay Reikofski had 2,298 votes, while Kelsey Jones had 1,035.
For the Foster and McLean village boards, both were “vote for two” situations. For Foster, Jerry Reikofski received 24 votes and Charles Flesner received 18. For McLean, Douglas Levos had 11 votes and Loren Gerdes, 10.
There were two names on the ballot for Educational Service Unit 8 positions —Randy Jochum for District 4 and Robert Chilcoat Jr. for District 6. They received votes of 2,571 and 320, respectively.
Kelly Hodson was the lone candidate for the Northeast Nebraska Public Power District board of directors, and received 670 votes.
Statewide Numbers
Statewide, in the race for Congressional District 3, Republican Adrian Smith came out ahead with 241,818 votes to Democrat Daniel Ebers’ 58,823.
On the senatorial ticket for a sixyear term, Republican Fischer beat out Democrat Dan Osborn 487,661 votes to 417,801. For the two-year term, Republican Pete Ricketts had 571,281 votes to Democrat Preston Love Jr.’s 333,401.
For member of the Legislature for District 19, Rob Dover had 8,838 votes and Jeanne Reigle, 7,385.
Initiatives, Referendums
There were five initiative measures and one referendum measure on the ballot this year.
Initiatives 434 and 439 were competing measures. A vote for Initiative 434 would amend the Nebraska Constitution to provide that, except when a woman seeks an abortion necessitated by a medical emergency or when the pregnancy results from sexual assault or incest, unborn children shall be protected from abortion in the second and third trimesters.
A vote for 439 would amend the constitution to provide that all persons shall have a fundamental right to abortion until fetal viability, or when needed to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient, without interference from the state or its political subdivisions.
Voters were advised that they would need to vote “for” one of the two measures as well as “against” the other because the one with the most “for” votes would be the one to be put in effect.
There were 496,586 votes statewide for Initiative 434 and 401,072 against, while Initiative 439 received 436,750 votes for and 462,756 against, so Initiative 434 will be the one to go into effect, protecting unborn children from abortion in the second and third trimesters.
Initiative 435 sought to retain section 1 of Legislative Bill 1402 which provides $10 million annually to fund education scholarships to pay all or part of the cost to educate eligible students attending nongovernmental, privately operated elementary and secondary schools in Nebraska. The vote on this measure was 492,478 to repeal the measure and 370,542 to retain it.
Initiative 436 would enact a statute which provides eligible employees the right to earn paid sick time for personal or family health needs. The votes were 638,737 for and 221,309 against.
Avote for Initiative 437 would enact a statute making penalties inapplicable for the use, possession and acquisition
VOTER TURNOUT NEAR RECORD IN ELECTION
of an allowable amount of cannabis for medical purposes. The vote on this was 614,236 for and 254,079 against. Initiative 438 was similar in that in would enact a statute that made penalties inapplicable for the possession, manufacture, distribution, delivery and dispensing of cannabis. The count on this measure was 578,375 for and 285,573 against.
Presidential Race
In the presidential election, Pierce County overwhelmingly voted for former President Donald Trump with 3,420 votes, while Kamala Harris received 446 votes. Nationwide, the vote for Trump was 551,343 compared to Harris’ 353,106. Liberterian Chase Oliver received 6,113 votes; Cornel West of Legal Marijuana NOW received 2,884 votes, and Jill Stein, By Petition, received 2,705.
Donald Trump will become the 47th President of the United States.
