Austin Rohling Itasca County Auditor and Treasurer met with Rapids Radio to discuss the upcoming County Commissioner election. With the passing of County Commissioner Burl Ives who was up for reelection this coming election season, Itasca County residents are wondering how things move forward from here. According to Minnesota Law, when the seat of a commissioner becomes vacant 90 days or more before an election takes place, the county will appointment someone to fill the term of the vacancy. After 90 days no appointment is made. If the vacancy happens 79 days before the election, the name of the candidate seeking reelection is removed from the ballot. When the vacancy occurred for District 4 of Itasca County, it occurred at 54 days. So according to Minnesota Law, no county appointment to fill the vacancy will occur and the candidate’s name will remain on the ballot. If someone wishes to be a write in candidate for the County Commissioner election, they must complete all paperwork and file with the Itasca County Auditor and Treasurer Office before the Oct 29th deadline. Write-in information will not be available at any polling location. The only way to learn about write ins, is to call the Auditor and Treasurer Office and they will present the names of those individuals who have filed for write in with any other public information that is made available. All other information about the candidate will come from the candidates themselves. If during the election Former Commissioner Burl Ives wins, a vacancy will remain until a special election is determined. If anyone else wins the County 4 District, they will be sworn in immediately to complete the rest of vacancy term and then complete their original term until 2028. The last time this happened in Itasca County was in 2002 where Rusty Eichorn won his County Commissioner seat.
Tony Schmid News Director Rapids Radio