Today is Election Day across the country. The polls are open in Nebraska from 7:00 to 7:00 MT or 8:00 to 8:00 CT while in South Dakota, it’s 7:00 to 7:00 local time with the polls in the Central Time Zone opening and closing an hour earlier than in the Mountain Time Zone.
The opening time has no meaning in Dawes County because all ballots are mailed out with no Election Day polling places.
Any Dawes County voter who hasn’t returned their ballot has until 7:00 tonight to put it in the secure drop-box in front of the Courthouse in Chadron.
Election officials in Pine Ridge announced one polling place change, a switch from the Latter Day Saints or Mormon Church to the Prue Ecoffey Gymnasium.
In local races, there are no contested races for Dawes County government only for the Chadron and Crawford city councils and school boards.
There are 3 at-large 4-year terms on the Chadron City Council with a full slate of 6 candidates. They are: incumbents Mark Werner, Cheryl Welch, and George Klein and challengers Jason Dye, Mark Graves, and Shane Shepherd..
There’s also a 2-year term, but current councilman Miles Bannan is the only candidate to file for it.
There are 3 Chadron School Board seats on the ballot, all 4-year terms. All 3 incumbents are seeking re-election – Tom Menke, Sandy Montague-Roes, and Tye Pourier – along with challengers Courtney Terrell, Colby McCoy, and Kevin Oleksy.
There are 4 candidates for 2 spots on the Crawford City Council: incumbents Ed Kuhnel and Ronnie Thompson along with challengers April Grant and Shane Norman while Mayor Connie Shell is opposed by Tom Phillips.
There are just 4 candidates for 3 Crawford School Board Seats: Joe Vogel, JR Wasserburger, Erin Norman, and Christine Kuhnel Swanson.
Nebraska voters have 3 statewide ballot measures to decide today. Amendment 1 allows cities, counties, and other political subdivisions that operate airports to spend money to develop or encourage the development or expansion of scheduled commercial passenger service.
Initiated Measure 432 requires qualified voters to show photo ID before casting a ballot while Initiated Measure 433 raises the state minimum wage in stages to $15 an hour on January 1st 2026.
There are 2 statewide ballot measures in South Dakota. Initiated Measure 27 legalizes the recreational use of marijuana while Initiated Measure 27 expands eligibility for Medicaid in the state.
Hot Springs has its own Initiated Measure, which declares uranium mining in the county as a public nuisance and bans it.