Pocahontas County voters will head to the polls Tuesday to decide city council and school board races across the county, with contested elections in several communities.
In Laurens, incumbents John Jamison and Elsa Jean Swanson are seeking reelection to the city council. Challengers Homer Martz and Rick Woodley are also on the ballot for two open seats. Havelock voters will choose between Amanda Tripp and incumbent Jay Murray for mayor. Four candidates are running for three council seats: incumbents Joseph Smith and Judy Krips and newcomers Brandon Weaver and Zachary Mutchler.
In Gilmore City, Mayor Landon Bailey is running unopposed for reelection. Incumbents LaVonne Hoover and Irina Jacobs face newcomer Lowell R. Johnson for two at-large council seats. A separate race to fill a vacancy includes Paul Hendricks and Chris Jones, both newcomers. In Pocahontas, newcomer Kristi Seller is running unopposed for mayor. Newcomers Adam Barnhardt, Weston Van Donge, Duane Dewey Flaherty, and Nicole MJ Harrison are seeking three available seats on the city council.
Incumbent Fonda Mayor Donald Wolf is seeking reelection, as are city council incumbents Cory Walker and Brian Larsen. In Palmer, incumbent Mayor Robert Rosenboom is running unopposed. Incumbents Melinda Habben and Bette Warnke are joined on the ballot by newcomer Tim Butcher for three open city council positions.
No mayoral candidates filed paperwork in Rolfe. Current Mayor Jim Pentico joins incumbents Aaron Cox and Allen Minkler facing off against newcomers Tammy Shimon and Brent Stewart for three council seats. Varina and Plover have no candidates for council seats. Plover also lacks a mayoral candidate.
School board races are also active.
In the Laurens-Marathon district, Amanda Martz and Mason Reed are newcomers running for two seats. Incumbents Jason Gustafson and Ben Zylstra are not seeking re-election. In Albert City-Truesdale, incumbent Kayla McCarthy is joined by newcomers Roman De La Torre and Megan Lovin, seeking three at-large seats.
Gilmore City-Bradgate has incumbent Logan Peters and newcomer Angie Jergens seeking two at-large seats. In Manson Northwest Webster, incumbents Jan Nelson, Dan Oswald, Taylor Rasch, and Kari Krueger are all running unopposed to retain their seats.
Newell-Fonda has incumbent John Sievers running unopposed in District 1. Newcomer Amanda Johnson is seeking the District 2 seat. In Pocahontas Area, Dustin Thompson and Deena Hudson are newcomers running in Districts 1 and 2. No candidates filed for the at-large seat. And in West Bend-Mallard, incumbents Dave Bruellman, Lisa Traub, and Christopher Montag are all seeking to retain their three seats.Â
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
