Northwest Iowa — While the major political parties voted for Presidential candidates in the February 1st Iowa caucuses, Iowa does have a primary election as well, and that’s coming up on Tuesday, June 7th.
In northwest Iowa the election is to nominate party candidates for United States Senator; United States Representative, Fourth District; some State Senate seats; some State Representative seats; some County Supervisor seats; County Auditors; and County Sheriffs.
All Democratic voters will select a nominee to run for the seat currently held by Senator Chuck Grassley. The candidates are Thomas Fiegen, Robert Hogg, Patty Judge, and Bob Krause. On the Republican side, Senator Grassley is the lone candidate to file papers.
For the Congressional seat held currently by Congressman Steve King, the only Democratic candidate is Kim Weaver of Sheldon. On the Republican side, King is being challenged by Rick Bertrand of Sioux City.
For State Senator, District 2, Republican Randy Feenstra is running unopposed by either side.
For State Representative, Districts 1 and 3, Republicans John Wills and Dan Huseman respectively are running unopposed by either side. However, there are three Republican candidates for the District 4 chair. They are Jeff VanderWerff, Kevin Van Otterloo, and Skyler Wheeler. No Democrats filed.
In Sioux County, the only contested race is for Board of Supervisors, District 3, where Al Bloemendaal faces Rich Koele on the Republican side.
In Lyon County, the only contested race is for Board of Supervisors, District 3, where Mark Behrens faces Gerald Klinkenborg on the Republican ballot.
In O’Brien County there are three contested races on the Republican side. For the Board of Supervisors, in the District 1 race, it’s a four-way race with Sherri Bootsma, James De Boom, Michael Negus and Jerry Nieuwenhuis squaring off for the nomination. In the District 2 race, Kelly Ney will face John Steensma. And for the Sheriff nomination, Allen Schuknecht faces Todd Wood.
In Osceola County, there are two contested races on the Republican side. For Board of Supervisors, District 2, Doug Hensch faces Jayson VandeHoef. For the District 5 nomination, Ed Jones faces Merlin Sandersfeld.
No Democrats filed for any county office nomination in O’Brien, Lyon, Osceola, or Sioux Counties.
Absentee ballots are available now for the primary at your county’s auditor’s office and you can request them in person or by mail. If requesting by mail, the request must be on an official absentee ballot request form available at sos.iowa.gov or by mail by calling your auditor’s office.
You can also vote in person now at the auditor’s office. That’s basically just requesting an absentee ballot and then filling it out and immediately returning it in person. Election officials stress that you cannot take the ballot with you, however.
If you want to switch parties or if you’re not registered to vote, that’s done at the auditor’s office as well. Voting day registration is available in Iowa, but it is normally discouraged because it takes time.
Polls will be open from 7 AM until 9 PM on Tuesday, June 7th.
Sample Ballot Links:
Lyon County (right side of page near bottom)
O’Brien County
Osceola County (Democratic) Osceola County (Republican)
Sioux County (scroll to the sample ballot section)
