CENTER – Three people have filed for the three seats up for election on the Wausa Public Schools Board of Education.
Newcomers Amanda Nipp, Wausa, and Eric Wynia, Wausa, have joined incumbent Derek Cunningham, rural Wausa, as candidates for the school board race, according to the Knox County Clerk’s Office in Center.
Cunningham is running again to serve on the board of education. He is finishing up his first fouryear term in 2024.
Fellow incumbents Terry Nelson and Pepper West each have decided not to file for another term on the school board.
Nelson is in his 16th year on the board of education, while West is in the final year of her first term.
However, the school board race will not appear on the May 14 primary election ballot. That is due to the number of candidates being below the threshold needed to be placed on the primary election ballot.
That means Cunningham, Nipp and Wynia will be automatically nominated and their race will automatically advance to the Nov. 5 general election.
Two out of the three Knox County supervisor races – Districts 4 and 6 – also will auto-advance to the general election.
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, so they will face off in the primary election.
Both Schlote, a Democrat, and Sokol, a Republican, are running unopposed for their respective spots, so they will automatically move on to the general election.
For Nebraska’s 2024 primary election, the candidate filing deadline was 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 was 5 p.m. March 1 for non-incumbents.
These deadlines included the Knox County supervisor and school board positions that will be on ballots this year.
Issues that will appear on primary election ballots in specific parts of the county will be special levy elections in Eastern, Lincoln and Niobrara Townships.
Registering as delegates to the Knox County Republican Party Convention – set for 7 p.m. March 6 at the Freedom Hall in Bloomfield – are: - Bloomfield area precinct: Faye Heine and Larry Heine.
- Creighton area precinct: Jody Fuchtman, Kay Morrill and Roger Morrill.
- Crofton area precinct: Michael Chase, Veda Chase, Tedsen Hillman, Dean Kleinschmit, Julie Kleinschmit, Dave Kube, Keith Kube and Kim Sawatzke.
- Verdigre area precinct: Jeff Uhlir.
- Wausa area precinct: Amanda Kumm, Gregory Kumm and Michael Kumm.
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. His subdistrict includes the community of Wausa. Newcomer Kelsey Jones, rural Hoskins, is running against Reikofski.
Incumbent Christopher Johnson, rural Bloomfield, has filed with the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office for re-election to his Subdistrict 2 seat on the Lewis & Clark NRD Board of Directors. His subdistrict includes the community of Bloomfield.
Newcomers Scott Kinkaid, rural Hartington, and David Schumacher, rural Crofton, have filed with the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office to run for the Subdistrict 3 seat on the Lewis & Clark NRD Board of Directors. Incumbent Marcel Kramer, rural Crofton, has chosen not to run for re-election. This subdistrict covers parts of Knox and Cedar counties, including the community of Magnet.
For the Northeast Community College Board of Governors, incumbent Nicole Sedlacek, O’Neill, is running again for her District 2 seat – which includes Knox County and a portion of Cedar County in its service area – and incumbent Jeff Scherer, Beemer, has filed for re-election to his at-large position.
Over in Cedar County, two Republican candidates are running for a seat on the county board of commissioners.
Mike Meier, Laurel, and John Thelen, Randolph, each have filed paperwork with the Cedar County Clerk’s Office in Hartington, 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.
Primary election ballots for registered 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.
