CENTER – Three Knox County supervisors are seeking re-election to continue representing their respective districts, including one from the Wausa area.
Incumbent Danny Schlote, rural Wausa, has filed for another four-year term to represent the county’s sixth district. Fellow incumbents Patrick Liska, rural Verdigre, and James Sokol Jr., rural Verdigre, have done the same for the county’s second and fourth districts, respectively.
Liska, a Republican, will have competition for the county’s District 2 supervisor seat, as Kevin Mlady, a Republican from rural Bloomfield, also has filed to run for the position.
As of Jan. 22, both Schlote, a Democrat, and Sokol, a Republican, were running unopposed for their respective spots.
The seats of three members of the Wausa Public Schools Board of Education – Derek Cunningham, Terry Nelson and Pepper West – are up for election this year. Their terms are each for four years.
Candidate filing for Nebraska’s 2024 primary election – set for May 14 – started on Jan. 5. The primary election candidate filing deadline is 5 p.m. Feb. 15 for incumbents – anyone serving in an elective office, even if it is not the public office for which they are filing – and 5 p.m. March 1 for non-incumbents.
These deadlines include the Knox County supervisor and Wausa school board seats up for election this year.
All village board races will appear on the general election ballot only.
Nebraska’s 2024 general election is scheduled for Nov. 5.
Incumbents on village boards have until July 15 to file for re-election for another four-year term while all new candidates will have until Aug. 1 to file.
The Wausa Village Board of Trustees has two seats up for election this year.
The incumbents who hold those positions currently are Cheryl Marks and Ron Nelson.
The Magnet Village Board of Trustees has three seats up for election this year. The incumbents who hold those spots currently are Jason Becker, Bradley Backstrom and James Cautrell.
Those who have registered so far for this year’s Knox County Republican Party Convention – scheduled for 7 p.m. March 6 at the Freedom Hall in Bloomfield – are Crofton residents Michael Chase, Veda Chase, Keith Kube and Kim Sawatzke.
Those filing for county and local elections will do so with their respective county clerk’s offices. Candidates for the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, the Nebraska Public Service Commission, the Nebraska Legislature, natural resources districts and other governmental entities will file with the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office.
Some election races require that a filing fee be paid and others require that a filing fee be paid along with a financial disclosure statement be completed, so it is recommended that candidates contact Fischer at 402-2885604 or [email protected] for more information or with questions.
Residents may look up their voter registration or register to vote online through the Secretary of State website, sos.nebraska.gov/elections/elections-division. There is also a form available online or in person at their respective county clerk’s offices.
The Secretary of State’s Office indicates there are more than 1.2 million active registered voters in the state – more than 600,000 registered Republicans; more than 330,000 registered Democrats; about 18,000 Libertarians; about 5,000 for the Legal Marijuana NOW Party; and more than 260,000 who vote nonpartisan.
In 2022, Nebraska voters approved a constitutional amendment requiring voters to show identification.
In June 2023, Gov. Jim Pillen signed LB514 into law, the legislative bill putting voter ID requirements into effect.
Educational materials on voter ID indicate voters should write their driver’s license or state ID number on the ballot return envelope or enclose a copy of their valid photo ID with their ballot.
Knox County Clerk Joann Fischer said the Secretary of State’s Office is still working on ballot envelopes for Knox and Cedar counties who participate in all-mail elections.
“There’s a special design to the envelope where (voters) would have to put their driver’s license number or their state ID number,” Fischer said. “Then that would be under a flap that’s sealed. We would open that flap and that’s how we would have to verify signatures.”
Primary election ballots for Knox County voters will be mailed on April 24 and need to be returned to the county clerk’s office in Center by 8 p.m. May 14.
