NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Penny Poitras from Haven is running as a write in candidate for Reno County Commission in District 5. She still believes she has something to offer, if people choose to write her in.
"They expanded the commission from three to five, so there was a new district created for District 5," Poitras said. "Up until May, no one had even filed to be a Reno County District 5 commissioner. I thought, well, we don't want that to go to an appointment. They've expanded this commission, now we need to have somebody actually file for it. Up until the filing deadline, I think it was the day before, there were only two people who filed and they were both from Hutchinson."
Not that there's anything wrong with having Hutchinson represented, but that's what the new District 4 is for.
"I really felt strongly that, especially with the ARPA funds, I noticed that I didn't feel like there was an equitable distribution of those funds. Haven received $12,000 out of $12 million. I just felt like the rural communities needed to be better represented, so I decided to throw my hat in the ring. It wasn't until after that I found out there was another Haven resident."
She acknowledges that she lost the four way primary on the Republican side, but she doesn't believe a majority of the District 5 electorate has been heard, yet.
"Of those 7000 voters, approximately half are Republican," Poitras said. "Since all of the candidates were Republicans on the primary ballot, there were four of us, only the Republicans got to weigh in on who the District 5 commissioner would be. Out of those 3500 people, Don Bogner received just a little over 900, so he got about 25% of the vote and he won. The total electorate, that's only about, just under 13%."
You can find out more about Poitras at https://www.poitrasforrenocounty.com/.