Linn County certifies special election results; Ramirez leads Hayes 2,747 to 721

Linn County supervisors on Thursday completed the county canvass for the special election to fill Iowa House District 78, recording 2,747 votes for Angel Ramirez and 721 for Bernie Hayes, Matt Warfield, Deputy Commissioner of Elections for Linn County, told the board.

"We had 3,475 voters participate which is 17.4% we had no provisional ballots no ballots received after the election," Warfield said during the canvass, and he reported that an administrative recount performed earlier that day found no discrepancies.

Warfield said election staff conducted a post-election audit on Cedar Rapids 16 precinct, where officials performed a hand count of 206 ballots cast at Refuge City Church and found identical results to the machine tabulation. He described multiple reconciliation steps completed by elections staff and said the county is confident in the accuracy of its counts.

As part of the canvass procedure, elections staff prepared abstracts and summary reports for supervisors to review and sign. Warfield told the supervisors they would sign three abstracts and two summary reports before the county transmits its official results.

The county canvass makes Linn County’s totals official at the local level; Warfield said the county will transmit the results to Des Moines so the Iowa Secretary of State’s office can perform a state-level canvass and officially declare a winner.

Supervisors raised no questions during the canvass and the meeting adjourned after the county certification was completed.