Six candidates apiece for Grand Forks County Commission, School Board

Joshua Irvine, Grand Forks Herald
Updated ·2 min read

Apr. 8—GRAND FORKS — Voters will have six names apiece to choose from in races for Grand Forks' elected school and county officials.

Paperwork was due Monday for a host of elected seats at the municipal and county level.

Candidates were required to file with the relevant election official by 4 p.m. to appear on the ballot June 11. Most elected seats also required candidates to file a nominating petition with a required number of signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Six candidates have filed the required paperwork and a nominating petition with 300 signatures for the Grand Forks County Commission.

Unlike most races on the ballot in June, the County Commission election is a primary. The four top candidates will progress in a runoff election on Nov. 5.

Two seats, currently held by longtime incumbents

David Engen

of Northwood and Cynthia Pic of Niagara are up for grabs. Both are running for another term.

They're facing four challengers:

*

Ron Barta,

a candidate for Grand Forks School Board in 2022.

*

Terry Bjerke,

a Manvel resident and former Grand Forks City Council member.

* Ryan Graf, a senior consultant with AE2S Engineering who lives in unincorporated Rye Township

*

Kyle Kvamme,

a current Grand Forks City Council member who is not running for reelection in that race.

Barta, Bjerke, Engen and Kvamme all issued announcements of their campaign to the Herald prior to the filing deadline.

Graf issued a blurb to the Herald in an email response to a Herald query Monday, touting his experience working with local government and promising to "hold the line" on property taxes.

The county's fiscal state is expected to be a focal point in the race, amid recent property tax increases driven by several capital improvements projects.

Candidate filing forms for Grand Forks School Board were also due Monday. Unlike most elected positions, candidates are not required to submit a certain number of signatures to qualify.

Four School Board seats are on the ballot in June, and six candidates have filed paperwork for the seats.

Incumbents Amber Flynn, Jeff Manley and Eric Lunn are all running for reelection. Current School Board member Cynthia Shabb has not filed paperwork to run again.

Also running for the four School Board seats are:

* Jay Kleven, a senior project manager at AE2S

* Cameron Murphy, a Grand Forks businessman and School Board candidate in 2022

* Roland Riemers, a perennial candidate for various local, state and federal offices

Riemers is concurrently seeking the Democratic nomination for North Dakota's at-large House seat, against Trygve Hammer. According to a Secretary of State's office spokesperson, nothing in North Dakota Century Code precludes or prohibits a candidate from running for both positions simultaneously.

This year's School Board election boasts a notably smaller field compared to 2022, where 23 candidates battled for five seats.