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Woodbury County board accepts recount request after Sergeant Bluff school bond falls seven votes short
Summary
The board voted to receive a recount petition for the Sergeant Bluff School District bond, saying Secretary of State guidance allowed a recount despite statutory ambiguity; officials proposed a public recount for Nov. 24 with a three-person recount board.
The Woodbury County Board of Supervisors on a unanimous voice vote accepted a petition to recount ballots in the Sergeant Bluff School District bond measure after officials said the measure fell seven votes short of the 60% approval threshold.
Michelle Scaff, acting county auditor and acting commissioner of elections, told the board the petitioners had shown the election total at 1,968 votes; the bond required 60% to pass, which would have been 1,181 affirmative votes, while the certified tally showed 1,174 "positive votes," seven votes shy of passage. "If seven votes had been shifted from no's to yes, then that measure would have passed," Scaff said.
Scaff said recent legislative changes (House File 928) created ambiguity in the recount statute as applied to special public measures that require a supermajority. After consultations with the school district’s attorney, the Secretary of State’s office and local counsel, she said the Secretary of State advised the county that a recount could proceed in this close case.
Joshua (identified in the packet as the school attorney) urged clarification of the statute, saying a literal reading can leave public measures without a clear recount pathway when thresholds differ. "I hope the legislature cleans up the statute a little bit," he said.
Under the recount plan Scaff described, each affected precinct’s ballots will be opened and counted individually and compared with the election-day tallies. The petition identified six affected precincts (four polling locations plus absentee storage), and a three-person recount board will conduct the work. The petitioner delegated the district superintendent, Chad Jansen, as one member; Scaff delegated herself; and Scaff said she and the petitioner selected Deputy Commissioner of Elections Steve Hoffmeyer as the third member.
Scaff proposed conducting the recount on Monday, Nov. 24, at 1 p.m. and said the process would be public and accompanied by a press release once the board accepted the petition. The board voted to receive the petition and proceed with arranging the recount.
