It’s almost here: General Election is Tuesday, Nov. 8

    Campaigning will come to an end next week with arrival of the Tuesday, Nov. 8, General Election.
    Interest has been building for the election, both locally, statewide and on the national level with an eye on who voters want as their future representatives in government.
    Chase County’s five polling places will be open Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
    County Clerk Debbie Clark said activity was light last week from people registering to vote or make changes in their voting status. The deadline to do that was Friday.
    Clark said 186 Chase County voters requested an early voting ballot, and 112 had been returned as of Monday.
    There are races for city of Imperial council and mayor positions, as well as  for seats on Chase County Schools and Wauneta-Palisade boards of education.
    In Imperial, incumbent Chad Yaw and new office-seekers  Jan Elliott and Nick Colton are on the ballot for two city council seats. Incumbent Charlesa Kline did not run.
    With incumbent Imperial Mayor Dwight Coleman choosing not to run after 12 years in office, Craig Loeffler, currently a city council member, and Duncan Einspahr are vying to be Imperial’s next mayor.
    Boards of education at both Chase County Schools and Wauneta-Palisade have races.
    At Chase County Schools, six candidates are vying for four seats. All four incumbents are running—Steve Wallin, Dan Reeves, Cindy Arterburn and Jeff Olsen—along with two new candidates, Jason Burke and Jason Banks.
    At Wauneta-Palisade, six district residents are seeking the three seats open. All three incumbents filed—Allison Sandman, Marty Wheeler and Laurie Maris—joined by new candidates Brock Malcolm, Shane Gerhartz and Vanessa Fanning.
    Three candidates, all incumbents, are seeking the three open village board seats in Wauneta—Page Johnston, Beau Kramer and Crystal Walgren, while in Lamar, just one candidate, Rodd Wiest, is on the ballot for three open seats on the Lamar Board of Trustees.
    Two are unopposed for Imperial Airport Authority—Nolan Spady and Doug Wilson.
    No one filed for the two Imperial Public Power Board seats up this year, one a two-year term and the other four years.
    There is one race all voters in the Upper Republican NRD area will be making a choice for, the at-large seat. Incumbent Brock Stromberger of Champion and Brad Dixon of Benkelman are vying for the post. In Chase County, incumbents Dean Large and Jason Kunkel are unopposed in their NRD subdistrict races.
    Cheri Burke of Imperial, Allison Sandman of Wauneta and Judy Seger of Wallace are all unopposed for the Educational Service Unit Board seats for which they filed.
    Tyler Pribbeno of Imperial is the sole candidate for the Mid-Plains Community College Board of Governors seat for District 2.
    There is no competition in any of the Chase County office races, as all candidates at the Primary were Republicans. With just one who can advance from each party, voters made their choices in May.
    County offices to be filled include assessor, attorney, clerk, treasurer, sheriff and two commissioner seats. Voters will see just one name and a space for write-ins for each office.
Initiatives, amendment
    Voters will have three issues on which to vote for or against Tuesday dealing with voter ID, minimum wage and spending on airports.
    Initiative 432, if passed, would require a photographic ID when voting in future elections. Currently, the Nebraska Constitution does not require photo identification.
    If Initiative 433 passes, Nebraska’s minimum wage would gradually increase to $15 an hour in 2026 from the current $9/hour.
    According to the proposal, if passed, the minimum wage would go to $10.50 in 2023, $12 in 2024, $13.50 in 2025 and $15 in 2026. After that, wages would be adjusted annually to account for increases in the cost of living.
    Voters will also cast their ballots for or against Amendment 1, a measure proposing the use of city, county or other political subdivisions owning an airport to use its revenues for airport development.
    City Clerk/Administrator Jo Leyland said her discussions with the League of Municipalities indicate this proposal may have arisen from Nebraska airports now with commercial airline service and airport officials’ concerns airlines may want to cut back on or pull their services due to less profits with higher costs to operate. Currently, cities such as Imperial cannot give money to private entities such as airlines, but if the amendment passes, it could mean cities or counties owning an airport could provide funds to incentivize airlines to continue to operate, as an example.
    Unless things would drastically change locally, the measure doesn’t have much effect in Chase County, Leyland said.
State races
    The interest across the nation on what’s being taught in public schools also includes Nebraska, not only with local school board races but with those serving on state boards dealing with education.
    There is a competitive race for State Board of Education, District 7, which includes Chase County, between incumbent Robin Stevens, Gothenburg, and Elizabeth Tegtmeier, North Platte.
    Also drawing a lot of interest is the UN Board of Regents Dist. 7 contest between Kathy Wilmot of Beaver City and Matt Williams of Gothenburg.
    State Sen. Dan Hughes is completing his final year as 44th District state senator due to term limits. Teresa Ibach of Sumner is the only name appearing on the nonpartisan ballot, as Ed Dunn of Grant withdrew from the race in July.
    Chase County voters will also be casting ballots for a new Governor, a 3rd District congressional representative and all state offices including Secretary of State, Treasurer, Attorney General and Auditor.
    Last week’s Imperial Republican included sample ballots. Wording on the two initiatives and constitutional amendment can be found on page 12.

Polling Places in
Chase County
Open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

    Imperial West Precinct—Lied Imperial Public Library
    Imperial East Precinct—Imperial Community Center
    Champion/Lamar Precinct— Champion Community Center    
    Imperial Rural Precinct—Imperial United Methodist Church
    Wauneta Precinct—Senior Center in Wauneta
    Note: Early voting can be done in the Chase Co. Courthouse through Nov. 7 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.