HOT SPRINGS – With all of Fall River County’s school districts and municipalities agreeing to conduct elections together on June 2, 2026, voters everywhere will be coming to the polls – however not all races will need elections.
While the March 31 deadline to submit petitions of candidacy in District 30 and Fall River County had not yet hit as of this newspaper’s deadline, there will be primary elections for most all races.
As of Monday, March 30, only Republicans had announced they were running for District 30 seats, as incumbent Senator Amber Hulse of Hot Springs will once again face former Senator Julie Frye-Mueller of Rapid City. As the incumbent in the 2024 primary, Frye-Mueller lost to Hulse in a threeperson race by a margin of 46% to 42% with the third candidate, Forrest Foster of Rapid City, earning 12% of the vote. Hulse then later defeated Democrat Bret Swanson in the 2024 November General Election.
In the South Dakota House of Representatives, incumbents Tim Goodwin of Rapid City and Trish Ladner have both announced they will run again to retain their seats, versus only one challenger in Custer businessman Stephen Saint. Ladner was the incumbent two years ago as well, when both she (24%) and Goodwin (23%) were the top vote-getters in a primary race which had a total of six candidates. Saint was one of those six vying for a seat in 2024, when he finished fifth overall.
For the Fall River County Commissioner race, incumbents Joe Falkenburg of Hot Springs and Deborah Russell of Oral will be running again and also facing just one challenger in former Sheriff’s Deputy Vince Logue of Oelrichs.
A total of four Republicans are seeking the position of County Auditor, which is currently held by Sue Ganje who plans to retire. Ganje first joined the Auditor’s office in 1983 and earned the job of Deputy Auditor in 1985 and has served as County Auditor for more than 20 years, after being elected in 2005.
The four 2026 candidates include current Auditor Office employee Bobbie Janis, current State’s Attorney office employee Carol Boche, current Director of Equalization Everett Dossey and former Auditor Office employee Cindy Burns.
There will also be an election for Sheriff as current Sheriff Lyle Norton will face off against challenger Scott Davis. Norton ran unopposed for the position in 2022. Davis made a previous bid for Fall River County Sheriff in 2018 when he lost to incumbent Bob Evans by a margin of 45% to 55%.
Current Register of Deeds Mel Engebretson is up for reelection but will not face any challengers.
The City of Hot Springs, which had its petition deadline pass last week on March 24, will have elections in three of its four wards, but current Mayor Bob Nelson will retain his seat for two more years as no one is running against him.
Ward 1 will see incumbent Randy Graham face the person he replaced when he was appointed to the position about one year ago.
Graham was on the 2025 ballot but lost by one vote to fellow Ward 1 councilman CraigRomeyinathree-person race, which saw incumbent Hal Glanville finish a distant third. However, a few weeks after the 2025 election, Graham found himself being awarded a council seat when the other Ward 1 councilman, Larry Pratt, resigned for an undisclosed reason. Now in 2026, Pratt hopes to get back on the council and will face Graham on the 2026 ballot.
Ward 2 had two positions up for election. Incumbent William Lukens was the only person who has petitioned for the two-year seat, while incumbent appointee Dave Burris will face challenger Bob Sprentell.
Burris and Sprentall had both expressed interest in this same Ward 2 seat at the July 7, 2025, council meeting, when no one ran for the seat in the June 2025 election. Burris was ultimately appointed to the seat by a 4 to 2 vote of the council. At that meeting, Sprentall, who is a retired U.S. Forest Service employee, told the council he would likely run for the seat when it came up in 2025.
In Ward 3, incumbent J.R. Huddleston is unopposed, but Ward 4 will have an election as incumbent Gary Telkamp will face challenger Ryan Wermager. After moving to Hot Springs in 2011 and working for Nature Conservancy at The Whitney Preserve, Wermager and his wife and their two children lived temporarily in Kennebec but have been back since 2024.
The Hot Springs School Board has two seats that are opening up, and both incumbents – Sharon Romey and Jason Mazzocchio – hope to retain. They will face a pair of challengers in Michael Selzler and Holly Schultes.
Romey, who was also one of three candidates on the June 2025 ballot, was appointed to her current seat this past September. At that time, there were four people who had expressed interest in the vacated seat following the resignation of Katie Burchfield. Mazzocchio originally joined the school board in 2024 as an appointee, but then won an unopposed one-year seat in 2025.
Selzler was also one of the four whom the board considered as an appointee for Burchfield’s seat in 2025. He and his wife have lived in Hot Springs since 2009. They currently have three kids in the school district, aged 14, 11 and 10. He is the owner of Sioux Funeral Home in Pine Ridge.
Schultes moved to Hot Springs with her family from Philip three years ago. She and her husband have two children in the district aged 14 and 4. She is employed at Fall River Health Services.
In Edgemont and Oelrichs, neither the city nor the school districts will have elections.
Edgemont School did have one board seat being vacated. Sam Whitney decided not to run for re-election but Molly Anderson did turn in a petition and will assume his spot on the board. Anderson is a Hot Springs native but has lived in Edgemont for the past 13 years. She has three children, aged 18, 8 and 6. She is an employee of Fall River Health Services in Hot Springs.
The City of Edgemont did have seats opening up in all three of its wards, but they will be filled without an election as there were candidates for each open position.
In Ward 1, Jarrell Rola is out but will be replaced by newcomer Sean Page, who moved to Edgemont one year ago. Originally from Tampa, Fla., Page came to Edgemont from Minot, N.D., where he was stationed with the U.S. Air Force. He and his wife have two children aged 18 and 9.
In Ward 2, Brent White is not running for re-election, but he will be replaced by former councilman and Edgemont native Jason Shook, who has served off-and-on the council for a total of six years. Shook will be celebrating 20 years with the BNSF railroad later this year.
In Ward 3, incumbent Dennis Tubb will retain his seat as the only petitioner.
Oelrichs School had only one seat opening up for election, which will be retained by John Cope.
The Oelrichs Town Board had two seats opening, and both of those will also be retained by incumbents James Willmus and Bill O’Connell.
There will be a change to the polling place in Hot Springs for the June 2 primary election, due to the unavailability of the Mueller Civic Center. Instead, all four city precincts plus the Jackson precinct ,will vote at the Bison Center (1747 Lincoln Avenue) on the campus of the Hot Springs School District. The General Election in November however will return back to the Mueller Center.
All other polling places will remain the same as usual, including the Beaver Precinct (Oral School), Cascade Precinct (Cascade Fire Hall), Edgemont Area Precinct (St. James Parish Hall), and the Oelrichs Area Precinct (Oelrichs Community Center).