Primary elections were held on Tuesday, June 4^th. Two ballots were available: Republican and Democrat. Only registered Republicans could vote on the former. The latter was open to registered Democrats, Independents, and those not belonging to a recognized political party.

As the Republicans had no one running against Donald Trump, the presidential race was excluded from the primary. In Spink County, only the State House race candidates were voted on. Three Republicans were on the ballot: Lana Greenfield of Doland, Terry Nebelsick of Huron, and Kevin Van Diepen of Huron. Nebelsick received 29% of the vote; Van Diepen received 34%; and Greenfield received 37% of the vote for District 22 State House candidates.

No contenders from other parties ran for State House in District 22. District 22 included Spink Co., Beadle Co., and a bit of Clark Co. No more than 2 candidates per party could end up on the November ballot. The 2 who received the most votes – Greenfield and from Huron – will have their names on the ballot.

Because they’re unopposed, and there are 2 seats available, this is moot. Unless there’s some unforeseen circumstance, they will be the ones who replace Lynn Schneider and Roger Chase, who termed out or retired last session.

The race was tighter in other counties, but Greenfield won in Spink County with 56% of the votes. Greenfield, an educator and small business owner, was formerly in the State House, circa 2017. The other candidate, Kevin Van Diepen, was formerly Sheriff of Beadle County.

In Spink County, the Democrats’ ballot was solely a Presidential primary. Incumbent Joseph Biden was challenged by 3 other candidates. None came close to his result of 69% of the vote.

Spink County Treasurer Theresa Hodges noted that voter turnout was a bit low. Primaries tend to get less notice than full elections do, but turnout was still a bit low, considering.

According to Hodges, Spink County had 2,487 registered Republicans. Of these, 565 voted in the primary. That’s roughly 23%. For the Democratic ballot, 1,637 Spink County residents were eligible to vote. Only 123 did. That was a 7.5% turnout. Hodge said “Independents and those with no recognized party affiliation may choose to not participate.”

Overall turnout in Spink County was 16.68% of registered voters. Greenfield received 56%, Nebelsick had 23%, and Van Diepen got 19% of the county’s vote.

In Beadle County, the result was: Van Diepen 40%, Nebelsick 31%, and Greenfield 28%. From the Clark County votes, Greenfield had 35%, and Nebelsick and Van Diepen both had 23%. (That only amounted to 62 total votes.)