Bartels easily retains seat

HARTINGTON — Cedar County District 2 Commissioner Craig Bartels overwhelmingly earned another term on the County Board Tuesday.

Bartels defeated Republican challenger John Thelen 870-158.

No one is seeking the seat on the Democratic ticket, which means Bartels will earn another four-year term on the board in the November election.

Bartels' home precinct led Cedar County in voter turn-out as 70 percent of Belden voters cast ballots in the election. On the whole, 57 percent of Cedar County's voters cast ballots.

The only other contested local election in Cedar County was in Laurel where five candidates were vying for two seats on the Laurel City Council.

Chad Johnson and Justin Ericksen were the two biggest vote-getters in Laurel. Johnson garnered 214 votes, while Ericksen collected 209. Jeff Erwin finished third with 128 votes while incumbent Logan Garber was fourth with 100 votes. All four will now advance to the General Election.   Johnny Lempke was eliminated from the race as he only garnered 57 votes.