CENTER – Time is running out for incumbents to file for the three seats up for election this year on the Wausa Public Schools Board of Education.
For Nebraska’s 2024 primary election – set for May 14 – the 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 positions that will be on the ballot this year.
The seats of three members of the Wausa school board – Derek Cunningham, Terry Nelson and Pepper West – are up for election this year. Their terms are each for four years.
As of Feb. 12, no incumbents or newcomers had filed for the Wausa school board race, according to the Knox County Clerk’s Office.
When asked on Feb. 12 after the Wausa school board meeting whether they were going to run for re-election, Cunningham indicated he was going to file for his seat, while Nelson and West both said they do not plan to seek another term.
Incumbent Danny Schlote, rural Wausa, has filed for another four-year term to represent Knox 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 Knox County’s District 2 supervisor seat, as Kevin Mlady, a Republican from rural Bloomfield, also has filed to run for the position. As of Feb. 12, both Schlote, a Democrat, and Sokol, a Republican, were running unopposed for their respective spots.
Other recent filings on the county level were Mike Kumm, Wausa; Tedsen Hillman, Crofton; Dean and Julie Kleinschmit, Crofton, registering for the Knox County Republican Party Convention.
Over in Cedar County, a Laurel man has filed for a seat on the Cedar County Board of Commissioners.
Mike Meier recently filed his paperwork with the Cedar County Clerk’s Office, seeking the seat representing District 2, which includes the community of Magnet.
Craig Bartels, Belden, currently holds the position and withdrew his filing for re-election. Bartels’ commissioner seat is the only one with an expiring term on the three-person board.
The county clerk’s offices in Center and Hartington will be open until 5 p.m. Feb. 15 for incumbent candidates filing for the primary election.
Incumbent Jay Reikofski, rural Foster, has filed with the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office for re-election to his Subdistrict 1 seat on the Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District Board of Directors. Subdistrict 1 includes the community of Wausa.
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.
Primary election ballots for voters in Cedar and Knox counties will be mailed out on April 24 and need to be returned to the respective county clerk’s offices by 8 p.m. May 14.
