Filing for elected office begins Tuesday

Published 4:42 pm Monday, May 16, 2022

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Filing opens Tuesday for candidates running for city, county, state and federal offices and runs through the end of the month. 

Seats are open for wards 1, 2, 4 and 6 in Albert Lea, along with the mayoral seat. 

Mayor Vern Rasmussen Jr. in March announced he would not seek reelection this fall after serving on the council since 2004 and as mayor since 2010. 

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First Ward Councilor Rich Murray last week announced he plans to run for the mayoral seat; however, no other candidates have yet announced their intention to run for office. 

The Ward 1 seat will be for two years, while the other three council seats and the mayoral seat will be for four. 

Larry Baker, Reid Olson and Al “Minnow” Brooks are the present wards 2, 4 and 6 councilors, respectively. 

City Clerk Daphney Maras said people interested in filing for city office can do so at the city clerk’s office on the third floor of City Hall. Maras said she will have packets together for candidates who file for office, including maps of the boundaries and other information. 

Cost to file for city office is $25. 

In Freeborn County, all five of the commissioner seats are up for election under new district boundaries, along with the sheriff, county attorney and Soil and Water Conservation supervisors for districts 3 and 4. 

The filing fee for county offices is $50 and for Soil and Water Conservation District is $20 and can be done at the county auditor-treasurer’s office. 

Sheriff Kurt Freitag and 2nd District Commissioner Dan Belshan have announced they will not seek reelection, and thus far, Sgt. Tim Bennett has announced he will run for sheriff and Scott Woitas has announced he will run to become commissioner and seek Belshan’s seat.

At the state level, all Senate and House of Representatives seats are up for election under new district boundaries, along with judicial offices, attorney general, state auditor, Secretary of State, and governor and lieutenant governor. 

Candidates can file for these offices with the county auditor or the Secretary of State. 

Freeborn County is now in District 23, along with a majority of Faribault and Mower counties, and half of Waseca and Steele counties. The northern half of Waseca and Steele counties are in District 19, the western portion of Faribault County is in District 22 and the eastern quarter of Mower County is in District 26. 

Candidates filing for U.S. representative must do so with the Secretary of State’s Office. 

Filing fee for U.S. senator is $400, for U.S. representative is $300, for state senator is $100 and judicial officer is $300. 

Filing for school board takes place from Aug. 2 through Aug. 16.