Primary election next Tuesday

Sigourney, Iowa- In less than a week, voters will head to the polls and select their party’s nominees for the November general election. The polls will be open on June 5 from 7 am to 9 pm for Democrats, Republicans, and, new this year, Libertarians will all select nominees for office ranging from Governor down to County Supervisor. In this year’s election, much of the focus has been on the Democrat Governor’s race.

Governor

The Democrat governor’s race was rocked last week by an article in the Des Moines Register alleging Senator Nate Boulton had sexually harassed a Des Moines woman at a bar in 2015, as well as two other women when he was in law school. Within 15 hours of the publication of the story, Boulton had dropped out of the race. While Boulton has dropped out of the race, his name will remain on the ballot. Additionally, thousands of votes had likely been cast for him absentee. In response to numerous questions, Secretary of State Paul Pate stated on Thursday that voters cannot get their absentee ballot back, if they had already voted for Boulton, to vote for someone else.

“Iowa Code does not allow voters to change their votes after their ballots have been cast,” Pate said.

Voters will choose between Fred Hubbell, Cathy Glasson, John Norris, Andy McGuire, and Ross Wilburn in the Democrat Governor race. Additionally, Democrats will settle a contest between Jim Mowrer and Deidre DeJear.

US Congress- 2^ndCongressional District

The only other contested primary for Keokuk County voters to settle will be on the Republican ballot, although the primary has been an unusual one of sorts. While Democrat Incumbent Congressman Dave Loebsack is running unopposed, his 2016 opponent, Christopher Peters, is appearing on the ballot unopposed for the Republican nomination. However, Clark County small business owner Ginny Caligiuri has launched a write-in campaign against Peters. Caligiuri had initially filed to appear on the ballot, however her nomination petitions were challenged by the Peters campaign, and she was ultimately booted from the ballot. In order to vote for Caligiuri, voters must fill in the voting target (bubble) next to the blank listed “write-in” AND fill in her name. If both of those are not done, a vote for her will not count.

“If ballots are counted by an optical scanner on Election Day, election officials are instructed to count a write-in vote only if the voting target (the bubble) is marked,” said Kevin Hall, of the Iowa Secretary of State’s office.