We typically do not see a high voter turnout in a primary election, especially in a mid-term election. That certainly held true in Nebraska last week, when only about 27 percent of registered voters went to the polls.

In Custer County, that number was even a little lower, as the Nebraska Secretary of State reports less than 22 percent - 21.54 to be exact - of those registered cast a ballot on Tuesday, May 12.

The only local race to appear on the ballot was a seat on the Dawson Public Power District Board, which is a 6-year term. Pat Hecox garnered all 11 votes over Kurt Karlburg, Bart Beattie, and Brad Kinnan.

For the State Board of Education representing District 7, which encompasses all of Custer County, incumbent Elizabeth Tegtmeier ran unopposed. The same was true for several state offices, including: Auditor of Public Accounts - Mike Foley; Attorney General - Mike Hilgers on the Republican ticket and Jocelyn Brasher on the Democratic ticket; and State Treasurer - with Republican Joey Spellerberg, and Democrat Daniel Ebers.

For the office of Secretary of State, incumbent Bob Evnen was challenged on the Republican ticket by Scott Peterson, who earned the most votes in Custer County with 757 to Evnen’s 540. That aligns very closely with the way voters across the state went, with 55 percent of Nebraskans choosing Peterson.

On the Democratic ticket, the front-runner was Sarah Slattery, who walked away with 83 percent of Custer County votes over Lee Cimfel.

The office of Governor of Nebraska is also up for grabs in this election, with a large panel of Republicans throwing their hats in the ring to oppose incumbent Jim Pillen. The current governor easily walked away with the majority vote across the county, with 73 percent of Custer County Republicans casting their ballots his way. Statewide, 76 percent of the votes cast went to Pillen.

He was followed by John Walz with 15 percent and Sheila Korth-Focken with 7 percent, while the remaining votes were split between Gary Rogge, Jacy Todd, and Sal Holguin.

There were two candidates on the Democratic ticket, with Lynn Walz winning that race by a landslide 167 votes over Larry Marvin’s 18. Two candidates also appeared on the ballot representing the Legal Marijuana Now party, with Rick Beard getting both of Custer County’s votes over James Charvat III.

In the race for District 3 representative to the U.S. Congress, incumbent Adrian Smith was challenged on the Republican ticket by David Huebner. Smith has lost some support across the county since his last election, but did still win the Republican vote countywide 749 - 645. Other candidates for that office are Democrat Becky Kelly Stille and David Else of Legal Marijuana Now.

Finally, the seat of U.S. Senator currently held by Pete Ricketts was heavily challenged on the Republican ticket. Despite the long list of options, Ricketts was the clear favorite among Custer County voters, with 83 percent voting for him. That aligned very closely with the statewide results, which saw Ricketts with 82 percent of the votes. Other Republican candidates in the order of votes received were Todd Knobel, Deb Axtell Schultz, Mac Stevens, and Eric Mortimore.

Cindy Burbank was the gubernatorial choice among the county’s Democrats by 80 percent over William Forbes. On the Legal Marijuana Now ticket, Mike Marvin earned two of Custer County’s three votes over Earl Starkey.

All contested races will be decided in the general election on Nov. 10.