Candidate filing numbers have started to increase in Lyon County. Which is good, but there are still a lot of incumbents yet to file and positions with few to no candidates.
The most recent to file are Allen City Council incumbent Jessie Niedfeldt, Americus Mayor candidate Jesse McKee, Reading City Council incumbent Billy Paige, USD 251 District 1 Position 4 incumbent Tammie Reed and USD 252 Position 2 newcomer Ryan Gasche — all doing so since Wednesday. However, several positions still have no candidates and others, including Emporia City Commission and USD 253 Emporia Board of Education, have only one person filed.
Lyon County Clerk Tammy Vopat says the ballot doesn’t lie: it’s been “very slow” so far.
The filing deadline is at noon June 1. If enough candidates file, and that varies by the number of incumbents for each position, there will be a primary election Aug. 3. So far, the Olpe City Council is the closest to a primary with six candidates filed and 10 needed for a primary.
If incumbent positions are unfilled, either by the incumbents themselves or others on the ballot, appointments by the respective boards would be the likely step.
As of Friday afternoon, the Admire City Council, Bushong Mayor and City Council, Hartford City Council Position 2, Neosho Rapids Mayor and Reading Mayor had no candidates step forward. The USD 251 District 3 Position 6 and USD 252 Position 3 also had no candidates on the ballot.
In Emporia, Susan Brinkman is the only City Commission incumbent to file for re-election — and is currently the only candidate on the ballot. Danny Giefer has not filed at this time and Jon Geitz is not running. For the USD 253 school board, Mike Crouch is the only incumbent to file and is the only candidate on the ballot. The other incumbents, Doug Epp and Melissa Ogleby, have not filed.
Residents interested in filing for office can call the Lyon County Election Office at 620-341-3245 or go online to www.lyoncounty.org and click “Election Office” under the “Government” drop-down tab.
