Local primary set for May 12

With Nebraska’s May 12 Primary Election now less than two months away, the Hamilton County Commissioners received an update on the election Monday from County Clerk and Election Commissioner, Jill DeMers. 
In reviewing the schedule leading up to the primary, DeMers said at Monday’s regular meeting the next major event will be the opening of the outdoor ballot drop box at the courthouse which will take place on Friday, April 3. The mailbox-style drop box is located near the handicapped entrance on the east side of the courthouse and can be used by voters to drop off early voting or mail-in ballots through Election Day. 
Voting in the clerk’s office, using the voting booths in the hall outside the office, will begin on April 13 and DeMers said ballots for the county’s mail-in precincts will be sent out on April 20. DeMers said about half the county’s voters vote exclusively by mail, which has been the case for several years. She said in-person voting at polling stations, such as is the case in Aurora, is helped by having a list of willing poll workers.
“I’m fortunate that I have a list of people who will help with elections,” DeMers said. 
She said the one-page ballots for the primary have been proof read and will be ordered soon. On the ballot will be Republican primary races for county commission in districts 1, 2 and 5 as well as primary races for various statewide and national offices. She said the only school board election for county voters in the primary will be for the Heartland School District at Henderson in which there are seven candidates for three open school board seats. The primary will be used to pare down the list of candidates to six. DeMers said all other elections will be pushed off until the General Election on Nov. 3. 
In the discussion that followed, DeMers was asked by Commissioner Nancy Salmon about the success of the county’s mail-in only precincts, and whether more or fewer people tended to vote when the election was conducted by mail only. DeMers responded by saying that the turnout from mail-in only precincts appears to be nearly double what it was previously with in-person voting. She said it appeared that voters appreciate being able to take more time looking over the ballot as opposed to going to a polling place to vote. 
The only other filing deadlines for candidates for local offices are coming up in July and August, according to DeMers. She said incumbents seeking re-election to village boards have until July 15 to file for election, while non-incumbents for those same offices have until Monday, Aug. 3 to file. 
Earlier in the meeting, the commission also heard from County Planning and Zoning Director Hillary Betka who reported that Merrick County has announced it will be terminating its interlocal agreement with Hamilton County for planning and zoning services which she has been providing to them. She said that after advertising for the position of a board assistant (similar to Pat Shaw’s position as county business administrator here) for many months, they had finally found a person to fill that position, who also has planning and zoning experience. 
Betka said she has enjoyed working with the people in Merrick County but is okay with letting go of the extra duties.