Filing Update for Ely Mayor & City Council

BREAKING NEWS: The reason why you are not seeing updates to the Sec of State’s website is the City of Ely and other cities and townships are not required to immediately forward or post information.

They are to do so as soon as possible. There’s no specified turnaround time. They are required to log in filings. Ely City Hall will have a variety of excuses. Nothing new: Ely City Hall was slow 2 years ago. City Hall knew for ages that the two-week filing period was May 19th -June 2nd and should have planned accordingly. No surprise. Voting and elections should be top priority with appropriate and adequate backup plans, including staffing aware of and able to prioritize election-related activities.

BREAKING NEWS: The City of Ely is not required to post or update its voting and election information (election dates, absentee ballots, filing dates, etc.) online.

We reported 05/17/2026 that outdated 2024 election information was still posted on the Ely City Website two days before filing was to start. https://elyminnesota.com/blog/start-filing-to-run-for-local-city-school-county/. That was a Sunday. It is not known if 2026 info was finally posted the next day Monday, on the first day of filing, or later. And Ely could have just left thre2024 info on its website.

The law requires them to post information inside City Hall and published in the City’s official newspaper (The Ely Echo). That’s it. Ely City Hall does the absolute bare minimum when it comes to democratic (small “d”) government education and outreach. We need to think about how we can change MN State laws in a positive inclusive way, so local governments like Ely are compelled to be more responsive with its website. The excuse will be $$. It’s not about $$. It’s about shifting the priorities and purpose of government back to serving the People.

BREAKING NEWS: Angela Campbell and Adam Bisbee filed for City Council.

We contacted the MN Secretary of State’s Office after 11:30 am on 05/29/2026 regarding State’s laws re: turnaround times and online posting. They checked their website and didn’t have any new candidates showing up for Mayor or City Council. They suggested we contact Ely City Hall directly, even considered walking into the Clerk’s Office to see the logs, or contacting the County Auditor. We called the County Auditor. They received new info today, Friday 05/29/2026, that 2 new candidates filed for City Council (see above) and nobody filed to run against current Mayor Omerza. Angela Campbell confirmed to us that she had filed Thursday morning.

Note: both the Secretary of State’s Office and the St. Louis County Auditor’s Office were helpful, informative, willing to educate about the laws regarding elections, professional and apolitical. As should be expected.

What’s on the MN SOS website?

As of 12 pm on Friday, May 29, 2026:

Current Mayor has filed for re-election or her 3rd term.

The 3 current City Council Members haven’t yet filed for re-election (Al Forsman, Angela Campbell, and Adam Bisbee).

If the candidates’ names are not familiar to you:

Try name searching on Ely Echo and Timberjay websites.

Name search on our website. Sometimes it’s best to just type in the last name in the box on the upper right upper right corner and then press enter. There usually is a YouTube recording to watch.

Here’s an example for our current Mayor Heidi Omerza..

See YouTube: https://elyminnesota.com/blog/city-council-nov-12-not-welcome/

On 11/12/2024 the Mayor targeted Council Member Adam Bisbee and the entire Park & Recreation Board for asking questions about the budget. Uppity citizens, they are not! Al Forsman joined the Mayor. At the next Park & Rec meeting, the Mayor made an unusual appearance seated in public area, making certain they stayed in line. Intimidation!

https://elyminnesota.com/blog/14-city-owned-parcels-rezoned-for-sale/

On 01/04/2025, nobody showed up for a Public Hearing that involved zoning of newly added parcels to the City as well as rezoning of older parcels. Scroll down to “What’s the purpose of a Public Hearing?” (green highlight).

As an teacher, as the Mayor often reminds Council & the public, one would think she’d initiate official City-wide changes to increase citizen awareness and involvement in Public Hearings. Needless to say, she should lead well-thought out, substantial and logical changes to current City Hall practices that produce results. Nothing. She remains dumbfounded.

To find current status of filings, go to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s website: https://candidates.sos.mn.gov/.

There’s only a 2-week filing period to file for Mayor & City Council.

Two weeks! May 19 – June 2nd.

The filing dates May 19-June 2nd have been known and posted on MN State website for a long time. Why isn’t this information easily found on local government websites (and school districts for school board elections)? On May 17, 2026 we posted how the 2026 Ely Election websites were still showing data for 2024 elections. Our screen snapshots were taken on May 17, 2026 – not in 2023 – two days before people could start filing for federal, state, county and local offices. See https://elyminnesota.com/blog/start-filing-to-run-for-local-city-school-county/. Incomplete and last minute posting on government and school board websites is a disservice.