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The Ely Branch of AAUW and the Ely Rotary Club hosted a School Board Candidate Forum on September 30, 2026, at MinnesotaNorth College’s Vermilion Campus in Ely, MN.
The Ely School District #696 school board election is nonpartisan. Voters can vote up to 3 candidates (for 3 seats). For more info about MN elections on November 3, 2026, go to the MN Secretary of State website www.sos.mn.gov/elections-voting.
Seating of candidates (left to right): Steve Hornstein, Jennifer Westlund (incumbent), Bailey McLinn-Belehar, Derekah Kingery, and John Kannas. Joe Weise did not attend the forum.
All 6 school board candidates submitted statements to AAUW/Rotary. They were printed out and then given to the audience before the forum began. Statements were edited for space reasons (to fit on one 2-sided page). Note: YouTube only allows for maximum 5000 characters in the description box, so statements could not be posted with YouTube clip.
Call or email candidates directly if you have questions and/or comments.
The following contact information is posted on the MN Sec of State website:
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