La Plata County Electric Association Board of Director candidates, top, from left: James Lane, Nicole Pitcher, Greg Barber. Bottom, from left: Jennifer Jenkins, Jodi Zuber, John Purser, David Luschen.
La Plata County Electric Association Board of Director candidates, top, from left: James Lane, Nicole Pitcher, Greg Barber. Bottom, from left: Jennifer Jenkins, Jodi Zuber, John Purser, David Luschen.

The La Plata Electric Association Board of Directors election is quickly nearing its conclusion.

Online voting will close noon Tuesday, and paper ballots are due by 4 p.m. the same day. Results will be announced Wednesday at the LPEA annual meeting, which is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the LPEA Durango Truck Barn in Bodo Industrial Park.

Seven candidates are on the ballot across the four director districts.

Incumbent Nicole Pitcher and James Lane are going head-to-head in District 1, which serves Archuleta County; Greg Barber is running unopposed in District 2, which serves south and west La Plata County; Jennifer Jenkins and Jodi Zuber are competing for a seat in District 3, which serves the city of Durango; and incumbent David Luschen and John Purser are duking it out for a spot representing District 4, which serves north and east La Plata County.

For more information

To read more about each candidate through interviews with The Durango Herald, visit https://tinyurl.com/37dftk9b.For more information about the election, including timelines and answers to commonly asked questions, visit https://tinyurl.com/mw68fnmp.For more information about the upcoming LPEA Annual Meeting, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday at the LPEA Durango Truck Barn in Bodo Industrial Park, where election results will be shared, visit www.lpea.coop/annual-meeting.

How to voteLa Plata Electric Association members should have received their paper ballots via mail in late April. Online votes can be cast on SmartHub – LPEA’s member billing website – and must be cast by noon May 19. Mail-in ballots must be sent via U.S. mail in the prepaid envelope by 4 p.m. May 19. Ballots can also be dropped off at LPEA’s Durango office, at 45 Stewart St., or at its Pagosa Springs office, located at 603 S. Eighth St., no later than 4 p.m. Tuesday. Finally, members can cast their votes in person at LPEA’s annual meeting, held in the LPEA Durango Truck Barn, 45 Stewart St., from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.

This year’s election comes amid a time of transition for the co-op, which officially separated from its longtime power supplier, Tri-State Generation and Transmission, on April 1.

Chris Hansen, the co-op’s CEO, called the switch “the biggest day in our history since the co-op was founded.”

Transparency between co-op members and the board, affordability and a focus on a mix of energy sources that will provide reliable electricity were all mentioned by candidates as top-of-the-list initiatives in interviews with The Durango Herald; but ideas surrounding how candidates intend to achieve those goals differed.

As of Sunday, 2,435 online ballots and 2,918 mail-in ballots had been received, according to the co-op’s website.

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