WTIP moves county commissioner primary forums up one week

A notice was sent to voters living outside Grand Marais city limits this week, reminding citizens that mail ballots for the upcoming primary election will arrive in the near future. The notice also talks about replacement and absentee ballots.

Cook County Auditor Braidy Powers told WTIP mail ballots will likely go out Tuesday, July 7, or within a day or two of that date. They should arrive to mailboxes or PO boxes later in the week.

This means the ballot will be sent out more than a month before the official  primary election day on Aug. 11. That being the case, Powers reminds local voters that you don't have to send the ballot back right away.

Indeed, you may want to keep your ballot until after our WTIP election forums later this month in July. WTIP is reaching out to all of the candidates for the Cook County board and will be giving voters a chance to hear directly from those citizens vying for a county commissioner seat. This year’s county commissioner primary forums on WTIP will be as follows:

District Two on Wednesday, July 22 - the candidates in District 2 are incumbent Myron Bursheim, Stacey Hawkins and Jaye White.

District Four on Thursday, July 23 - Candidates in District 4 are Dean Berglund, Charles Christiansen, Ann Sullivan and Steve Watson. (Incumbent Heidi Doo-Kirk did not file for reelection.)

The forums will begin at 7 p.m. each night.

Due to the ongoing health pandemic, WTIP’s traditional candidate primary forums will be held in a different format this year. The primaries will be done live on WTIP July 22 and 23, with participants joining via a Zoom conference call. The primaries will remain interactive with WTIP listeners, and calls can come in during the live broadcasts.

Please note these primary forums have been moved forward one week due to the release day of the mail ballots in July 2020.