Wednesday, November 25, 2015 Cottage Grove, Minnesota
The South Washington County District 833 Question Two Recount Canvassing Board met at the District Service Center Wednesday morning to determine if any of the 19 challenged ballots in the $96 million bond ballot recount would be flipped into one of three categories: “Non-Vote”; “Yes”; or “No”. By the end of the two-hour meeting, the canvassing board had decided that 13 of the 19 ballots were “No” votes and five were “Non-Votes/Ambiguous.” One challenged ballot was withdrawn by Attorney Erick Kaardal. The Canvassing Board determined that the ballot question passed by a difference of five votes: 6840 for and 6835 against.
Attorney Erick Kaardal represented the “No” vote supporters, including Bev Moreland who submitted the recount request petition. Attorney Alan Weinblatt represented the Vote Yes committee. The two attorneys each were allowed one minute to present arguments for or against each of the 19 ballots, after which the Canvassing Board debated the “voter intent” for each ballot before voting on each one individually.
After the meeting, KSTP News interviewed Superintendent Keith Jacobus, Auditor Corbid and Attorney Kaardal regarding the Canvassing Board’s decision:
The four ballots thrown out by the canvassing board that Attorney Kaardal claims should have been “No” votes were ballot numbers 2, 9, 16 and 18. Those ballots were similar to some of the ballots the board determined to be “No” votes. For example, the following six ballots are a side-by-side comparison of three of the “Non-Vote/Ambiguous” ballots and three of the ballots determined as “No” votes.
The Canvassing Board included ISD 833 School Board Chairman, Ron Kath, ISD 833 School Board Clerk, Katie Schwartz, Washington County Court Administrator, Annette Fritz, Washington County Auditor, Kevin Corbid, and Woodbury City Clerk, Kim Blaeser.
Stay tuned for more updates.
