Local elections just became more interesting

Never underestimate the power of a deadline—we say that a lot in the newspaper business. The deadline for filing for elected office in Nebraska arrived on Tuesday, and that brought out a huge number of local candidates that will make our first election at the  May 10 Primary a lot more interesting, with races continuing in November.
    In the past week, 14 people filed for local offices. Wow! In all my years covering local elections, I don’t remember a week filled with so many candidate filings. One of the county offices, County Treasurer, has three candidates running. There are also races on the county level for Attorney and Assessor.
    Schools board races in Chase County and Wauneta-Palisade also drew a lot of interest the past week with six people filing for those seats alone, creating a runoff at the Primary for WP positions.
    Additional Imperial mayor and council candidates also filed, and three people want to fill the at-large position on the Upper Republican NRD Board.
    Add to that another candidate for the District 44 state legislative seat now held by Dan Hughes, so there will also be a race there.
    My hat is off to all of you who have chosen to get involved in our communities by seeking office. I appreciate people who take steps to do something like running for office, instead of just complaining about issues at the coffee shop.