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Midway City Council unanimously certifies municipal election results
Summary
At an emergency meeting called to canvass ballots, the Midway City Council voted unanimously to accept county-provided results for the city council race; the city recorder presented vote totals and turnout figures and explained overvote/undervote impacts.
Mayor called an emergency Midway City Council meeting to order to canvass the municipal election results and turned the meeting over to Brad, the city recorder. "This is a requirement in state law that says that the legislative body, which is the city council, has to review a summary of the election, and then they formally approve and certify the election results," Brad said.
The city recorder presented the county-provided tally for the council race, noting voters could select up to two candidates. The reported totals were: Craig Knight 162 (6.33%), Star Stratford 665 (25.98%), JC Simonson 436 (17.03%), Andy Garland 629 (24.55%), Randy Lundin 257 (10.03%) and Jeanine Probst 411 (16.04%). Brad said the contest total was 3,012 and that 1,282 ballots were cast out of 3,701 registered voters, a turnout of 34.64%.
Brad explained how mis-marked ballots affected the count: "We had 18 overvotes, which means that there were 18 people that voted for more than 2 people ... and then there were 434 undervotes," he said. He clarified that an undervote — a voter selecting only one candidate or none in that race — is still counted for the selections made, while an overvote in a particular race invalidates that race on the ballot but does not invalidate other races on the same ballot.
After presentation of the results, a councilmember moved to approve and certify the county-provided results and a second was made. The mayor called the roll by name. The record shows the following council members voting in the affirmative: Jeff (last name not specified), Craig (last name not specified), Lisa (last name not specified), Councilmember JC Simonson and Kevin (last name not specified). The motion passed unanimously and the council accepted the county results.
The meeting adjourned immediately following the certification vote. Brad had characterized the canvass as largely pro forma unless specific, provable issues with the election are raised for further action.
