Early numbers indicate a good election turn out
HARTINGTON — Early indications lean toward a good voter turn-out next Tuesday, Cedar County Clerk Dave Dowling said.
As of Monday morning, 296 Absentee ballots had been handed out, and 41 percent of those have already been returned, Dowling said.
In the 2016 Presidential election, 299 Absentee ballots went out, he said. Registered voters can still pick up Absentee ballots right up until the election day, Dowling said.
Quite a few of the ballots from Cedar County’s eight All Mail Precincts have also been returned already, Dowling said.
Thirty-six percent of the voters in the St. Helena area (Precinct 1), the Fordyce area (Precinct 9A) and the Belden area (Precinct 20) had all turned in ballots as of Friday morning, Dowling said.
All three of those precincts had some of the best voter turn-out in the county during the last General Election.
Belden led the county in 2016 with an 89 percent voter turn-out, while Fordyce had an 82 percent voter turn-out and 77 percent of the eligible voters in the St. Helena area cast ballots.
As a whole, 82 percent of the voters in All Mail Precincts cast ballots in the 2016 General Election.
Only 59 percent of the voters in the County’s polling places cast ballots in that election. The County still has election day polls open in Coleridge, Hartington, Laurel, Randolph and Wynot.
Area voters will have several choices to make, besides the race for Governor, U.S. Senator and Third District Congressman, Randolph voters will also decide between incumbent Mayor Dwayne Schutte and challenger George Bradley.
Voters will also get to help decide who will represent Cedar County in the Legislature.
A pair of Knox County men, Tim Gragert of Creighton and Keith Kube of Crofton, will square off for the Dist. 40 Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Tyson Laron, who is term limited and cannot seek another term in office.
Results of next week’s election will be available in a special sample copy of the Cedar County News and online at www.northeastnebraskanews.us.
