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Woodbury County board certifies school election canvas, resolves tied council seat by drawing
Summary
The Woodbury County Board of Supervisors received and signed a city school election canvas, resolved a three‑way tie for a council seat by drawing Stephanie Durrell as the winner, and approved routine claims; election staff reported one brief fire‑alarm evacuation at East High School but said procedures worked and voting resumed.
The Woodbury County Board of Supervisors on Nov. 14 received and approved the city school election canvass and signed the related certificates, and resolved a tied city council seat by drawing a winner from write‑in ballots.
Steve Hoffmeyer, deputy commissioner of elections, summarized the canvass for the board. "We had 10 provisional ballots from election day. Eight of those were accepted. One was rejected because the voter did not provide proper ID, and one was rejected because the voter voted in the wrong precinct," Hoffmeyer said. He told the board four after‑election absentee envelopes were rejected because they were received too late; "Those all have to be in our office by 8PM on election night," he said.
Hoffmeyer reported the city of Odo council race for three seats had a unique outcome: one clear winner emerged from write‑ins, and three candidates tied for the remaining seat with two write‑ins each. He said the board needed to decide the winner by drawing; after the drawing Hoffmeyer said, "So he drew Stephanie Durrell," and he said he would retrieve the abstract and certificate for her for the board to sign.
A motion to accept and sign the canvass and certificates was made and approved by the board; the motion was recorded as passing 4‑0. The board likewise moved and approved a separate item to "approve the claims," which was also recorded as passing 4‑0. The meeting transcript records motions and seconders for routine items but includes inconsistent spellings of some mover names; the outcomes recorded were unanimous approvals.
Board members and staff arranged to sign the abstracts and certificates during the session. Hoffmeyer told the board he would obtain the final abstract and certificate for the drawn winner so the board could complete the certification paperwork.
County staff also reported on election‑day operations. Scaff, responding to a request for remarks about the election, said it "went real well" overall and that staff had few complaints. Scaff described one operational issue: a fire alarm at East High School required poll workers to follow evacuation and emergency procedures. "The fire department came and cleared it, and they went back in, and it flowed pretty seamlessly," Scaff said, adding that staff had reviewed emergency procedures with workers before the election.
The board closed the meeting with brief thanks to election staff and volunteers and adjourned.
Votes at a glance: - Approve agenda — Motion recorded as moved by Bittinger, seconded by Carper; outcome: passed 4‑0. - Certify city school election canvass and sign certificates — motion and second recorded in the transcript; outcome: passed 4‑0 (board approved certification and signed documents; winner of tied seat determined by drawing: Stephanie Durrell). - Approve claims — motion and second recorded in the transcript; outcome: passed 4‑0.
What the board did not specify in the session: the transcript records the tied city council race and the drawing that produced Stephanie Durrell as the winner, but the transcript’s spelling of the municipality name appears as "Odo" and the recorded mover/second names for some motions appear with inconsistent spellings in the transcript; those items are presented here as recorded in the meeting.
