Schmitt elected mayor, Hughes re-elected senator, pool bond passes
Several races highlighted the ballot action in Perkins County in Tuesday’s general election.
City of Grant voters elected Lisa Schmitt as their new mayor with 400 votes, 267 votes more than candidate Bryce Anderson.
In the council race, incumbent Andrea Brueggeman took the most votes with 408. Edward Dunn claimed the second available seat over incumbent Darrell Pierce. Dunn received 296 votes and Pierce received 187.
Candidate Chase Sauder requested no votes prior to the election after receiving a job change that would require travel. He still received 85 votes.
Grant and surrounding communities will soon enjoy a new swimming pool facility with the passing of a $2.4 million bond for its construction. 324 voted for the bond while 193 voted against.
Voted to the three Perkins County School Board seats were incumbent Amy Kroeker, 925 votes; Angela Gloy, 893 votes; and Chris Fryzek, 644 votes. Adair Reese received 475 votes.
Lynn Cook, who received 42 votes, will take a seat on the Elsie Village Board. He will join incumbent Doug Curtis, who edged out Amanda Condon for the second seat by five votes with 26. Just one vote behind Condon was Charles Kramer with 20. Kevin Kugler received 14 votes.
Newcomers Jennifer Baumgartner and Kevin Klahn received the most votes in the Madrid Village Board race with 37 and 33 respectively to claim the two open seats. Incumbent Kristy Ogg received 26 votes.
Incumbents Troy Grothman, Dennis Eckdahl and newcomer Joshua Clark claimed the three open seats on the Village of Venango Board with 42, 41 and 39 votes respectively. Christina Farnsworth received 30 votes.
In the District 44 Senator race, incumbent Dan Hughes of Venango was re-elected with 1,062 of his total votes coming from Perkins County. Challenger Stephanie Malcolm of Palisade received 115 Perkins County votes.
Brock Stromberger claimed the Upper Republican NRD At Large seat.
See full Perkins County results here.
County turnout 63 percent
Election Commissioner Rita Long reported 1,973 are registered to vote in Perkins County. This is up eight voters from the primary election in May.
Voter turnout in Perkins County was 1,234, or 62.54 percent.
Nebraska reached a new record number of registered voters, totaling 1,219,644. Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale said this exceeded the number from the previous record set at the 2016 general election.
A voter turnout of 56 percent was anticipated.
In addition to the voter registration record, Nebraska voters requested early ballots in record numbers for a midterm election. In Perkins County, 499 ballots were cast early. Statewide there were nearly 214,000.