Cloquet School Board gears up for an election year

Talk about it

November is more than half a year away, but already the Cloquet School Board is thinking of elections.

In Monday night’s regular school board meeting, the board decided, with a lone nay vote by Duane Buytaert, to hold a primary election for the three open school board spots.

This is the same process that was used in the last school board election.

“If the system works, why try to fix it?” said board member Ron Gittings.

In this election process, if seven or more people file for candidacy, a primary would be held on Aug. 10. This is at no cost to the Cloquet school system and would be conducted by the county auditor.

But, if fewer than seven people file, no primary will be held and the general election will be carried out as planned on Nov. 2.

“As long as holding a primary election won’t cost the school anything, I don’t see any harm in having this system,” said board member Sandy Crowley.

For his part, Buytaert thought a primary wouldn’t be necessary since so few candidates typically run.

The seats held by board members Sandy Crowley, Ron Gittings and Rose Scheuer will be voted on this election. Their terms end on Dec. 31.

Those looking to run for one of the three open spots have between May 18 and June 1 to file for the elections. Filing paperwork is located in the Cloquet Schools Central Administration Office, located at the intersection of Carlton Avenue and 14th Street.

A small filing fee is required to run for a school board seat. The price has not been set yet for the upcoming election, but for the last election the filing fee was $2.

Candidates must live within the Cloquet school district.

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