Nomination filing open for county primary election

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The nominating period is now open for persons looking to run in the primary election in June for a chance to represent their party in the general election for a county office. This year in Floyd County those offices up for election are District 1 supervisor, county auditor and county sheriff.

There are also two Floyd County offices that will be on the ballot to fill vacancies, because the people currently holding those offices were appointed. They are District 3 supervisor and county attorney. The winning candidates will serve the last two years of those offices’ regular four-year terms.

As of Monday, Liz Hamm, currently judicial clerk III and jury manager in the Clerk of Court Office,  has filed to run for the Democratic nomination for county auditor, and Todd Prichard, the appointed county attorney, has filed for the Democratic nomination to run for county attorney.

Mark Kuhn, the current District 1 supervisor, and Jim Jorgensen, the appointed District 3 supervisor, have both announced they will not run to retain their seats. County Auditor Gloria Carr has announced she will retire after her current term is over at the end of this year.

According to information from the Floyd County Auditor’s Office, the nomination filing deadline to run in the June 4 primary is Friday, March 22, at 5 p.m. in the County Auditor’s Office.

To be included on the party primary ballots, persons must file an affidavit of candidacy and nominating petitions including at least the required number of signatures by eligible electors. In the case of nomination signatures for supervisor, the signers must live in the supervisor district that the candidate is running for.

Persons who are not declaring a party or who are running as a member of a non-party political organization (NPPO), can file nomination papers for the general election from Aug. 5 to Aug. 28 at the county auditor’s office.

An NPPO is a political organization that has not met the state requirements to be considered a political party. To be a political party in Iowa the organization is required to have had a candidate for governor or president in the last general election who received at least 2% of the total votes cast.

The three political parties in Iowa currently are Democrat, Republican and Libertarian.

Other county offices to be decided in the Nov. 5 general election are for township clerks and trustees, hospital trustees, Soil and Water Conservation District Commission and Agricultural Extension Council.

Township trustees and clerks can file to be on the ballot in the Aug. 5 to 28 time period. They need to file an affidavit of candidacy only, and are not required to submit a nominating petition with signatures.

Floyd County Medical Center hospital trustee candidates, Soil and Water Conservation District Commission candidates and Agricultural Extension Council candidates can file anytime up to the deadline of 5 p.m. Aug. 28 in the County Auditor’s Office.

Editor’s note: An article in Friday’s Press regarding candidate filing contained incorrect information.