Cheyenne County Republican Party Meets

The Cheyenne County Republican Party met Monday, April 22nd in the basement of Security First National Bank with approximately 20 in attendance. Ethical voting was among the hot topics of the evening, as were candidate bids for both the city council and school board.

Open to the public for comment, they were then asked to state their questions, "There's a lot of discussion of voting machines, do we have them in Cheyenne County?" The County Clerk was prompt to answer, "We have an express vote." President Warren Phelps added clarification to the issue, "We use all paper ballots in all of our elections, in big cities they have a touch screen (ballot machine). That's where a lot of voting accusations stemmed from." He continued with, "I don't think there's much cheating going on in Cheyenne County, the risk of getting caught would far outweigh the benefits."

More questions from the floor regarding sage practice voting arose during the meeting, "Do we have a camera on our (voter) drop boxes?" The County Clerk answered, "Yes, we do."

The procedure of collecting and counting ballots then came up, "Can you describe the process for tallying the votes? What is it like when people are at the fairgrounds voting, what happens after that?" The County Clerk then went through the order of voting operations, "We come back to the courthouse, then the (voting) boxes are opened." "The boxes are locked," asked the floor, "Yes, they have seals on them," assured the County Clerk. "When you put your ballot in, you are putting it in (the box), you drop it in by yourself, and then those boxes are locked. Then when we count the ballots left over, we're not counting those in the box yet as it is a locked box. Then they go back (to the Courthouse) and the boxes are unsealed, the ballots are taken out and checked for two sets of initials. If they find one that doesn't have two initials, it's put aside so that it goes through our machine," the County Clerk stated.

Further questions came from the floor, "So who is then involved in that process?" The County Clerk explained, "My deputy, we also have a counting board." Another question from the floor, "Do you have poll watchers in place?" The County Clerk answered, "Poll watchers have to be appointed by political party or non-partisan."

The floor then asked, "Did you have poll watchers (last election)?" To which she replied, "Poll watchers, no, but people did watch us count the votes."

More floor questions followed, "And did you have the press there?" "Yes, we did," stated the County Clerk. The question of when the primary was being held was then asked, "May 14th, we have sample ballots (available) in our office," she said.

The floor was then opened up to those seeking office in this year's election, four candidates introduced themselves and touched lightly on themselves and their highlighted issues.

Amber Talich who is seeking a position with the Sidney School Board, "I've been in Sidney for 16 years, my husband and I have two children - a fourth and first grader. So, I have skin in the game, I think a strong school board can build a school system," she had to say.

Next was Eric Pool who is seeking the Cheyenne County Commissioner position, "I just got up off the couch because I have the experience, the education, and time now that my kids are grown up. I'd like to give back to the community and help to help move this town forward."

To follow was Brian Fort, a candidate for city council, "I've been in Sidney the past 16 years, originally from Minnesota with no plans to move back as I live the culture here. I'm looking to make some changes, as a citizen for the past 16 years I've seen we can be better. There are a lot of great people in the city of Sidney, I look forward to being a team player and an assertive leader, given the opportunity."

Last was Robert Kuhns who is also running for city council, "I've been in Cheyenne County for 60 years, I worked for the city for 23 years, the last six I was in charge of the Water Department. I retired from the city about 1.5 years ago, I've seen the ins and outs as both a citizen and an employee of the city, so I'm looking to get on the council and make some positive changes."

The meeting was then closed with no further discussion from the public.

Author Bio

Kelsey Arrington, Staff Reporter

Cheyenne County native, local business owner.