By Seth Boyes,
More than 30 county-level offices will be on the ballot this November for area voters, but only three of those races will see any competition at the ballot box.
A pair of seats on the Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors are up for grabs this cycle. Democratic incumbent Supervisor Shirley Vermace filed papers to maintain the District 3 seat on the board, and she’ll face off against Republican challenger Dan Hovden on Election Day. Republican incumbent Supervisor Dan Langreck — the board’s current chair — also filed for reelection in the race for the District 4 seat. He is up against a bid from independent candidate Cheryl Wieseler.
Vermace, Hovden and Langreck each ran unopposed in their respective primary races in June — Vermace received 71 votes of support, Hovden tallied 39 votes and Langreck garnered 41 votes, according to information from the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office.
Local voters will also be tasked with narrowing a field of four candidates for county hospital trustee to just three individuals. Candidates Karen P. McLean, Clark Goltz, Christopher Miculinich and Jan Heikes have all filed candidacy papers. Heikes, Goltz and McLean all currently serve as hospital trustees, and Miculinich currently serves as the city councilman for Decorah’s Ward 2 — his term on the city council is set to expire in December of 2027.
Winneshiek County Auditor Ben Steines and Winneshiek County Sheriff Dan Marx — both Republicans — are up for reelection. Neither faced an opponent during the June primaries, with each earning more than 200 votes of support, and no opposing parties filed candidate papers as of last week’s deadline.
Down the ballot
Dozens of other local races will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot, but voters won’t have much deliberating to do — only a single candidate is listed in each of the 25 township trustee races. Other races, such as those for county agricultural extension council as well as soil and water conservation district commissioners, attracted as many candidates as there were open seats.
The other positions that will appear on the General Election ballot are:
Bloomfield Township Trustee (vote for one)
Christopher Hackman
Bluffton Township Trustee (vote for one)
Stephanie Fromm
Burr Oak Township Trustee (vote for one)
Dawn Marlow
Calmar Township Trustee (vote for one)
Rodney Lensing
Canoe Township Trustee (vote for one)
Daryl Bosma
Decorah Township Trustee — splits 3.2 and 9.1 (vote for one)
Kevin Barth
Frankville Township Trustee (vote for one)
Jeff Feickert
Frankville Township Trustee — TFV (vote for one)
Loren Broszeit
Fremont Township Trustee (vote for one)
Leland Hovey
Glenwood Township Trustee (vote for one)
Allan J. Dahlen
Hesper Township Trustee (vote for one)
Mike Paulson
Hesper Township Trustee— TFV (vote for one)
Ethan Wise
Highland Township Trustee (vote for one)
Arden Auna
Highland Township Clerk— TFV (vote for one)
Sawyer Wise
Jackson Township Trustee (vote for one)
Ross Kurash
Lincoln Township Trustee (vote for one)
Rodney Ollendieck
Lincoln Township Trustee— TFV (vote for one)
Ted Frana
Madison Township Trustee (vote for one)
Roger Bergan
Military Township Trustee (vote for one)
Thomas J. Bushman
Orleans Township Trustee (vote for one)
Ron Stika
Orleans Township Trustee— TFV (vote for one)
Jason Ryan
Pleasant Township Trustee (vote for one)
Roger A. Nelson
Springfield Township Trustee (vote for one)
Bruce Sersland
Sumner Township Trustee (vote for one)
Paul Andera
Washington Township Trustee (vote for one)
James Neuzil
Soil & Water Conservation District Commissioner (vote for three)
Jon H. Lubke
Donna Rasmussen
Keith Newhouse
County Agricultural Extension Council (vote for five)
Lori L. Shatek
Blake Courtney
Janice Kuboushek
Judy Mowry
Cassidy Ferguson
Correction: Aug. 29, 2024, Decorah Leader
An article entitled “Filing deadlines closed for state, federal elections,” which appeared in the Aug. 29, 2024, Decorah Leader mistakenly omitted presidential candidate Claudia De la Cruz and running mate Karina Garcia of the Party for Socialism and Liberation from the list of candidates in that race. Staff inadvertently overlooked the campaign while compiling the list printed in last week’s article and regrets the error.
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