Woodbury County supervisors certify election canvas; tied council seat decided by drawing

The Woodbury County Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 to certify the canvass of a recent city and school election and signed abstracts and certificates, officials said.

Steve Hoffmeer, deputy commissioner of elections, told the board, “I have the canvas of the city school election here for you guys to receive and to sign off on.” He reported the office received 10 provisional ballots, of which eight were accepted; one provisional was rejected because the voter did not provide proper identification and one was rejected because the voter cast a ballot in the wrong precinct. Hoffmeer also said four after‑election absentee ballots were rejected because they arrived too late to be counted; such ballots “have to be in our office by 8:00 p.m. on election night,” he said.

Hoffmeer told the board that in one city council contest (City of Odo) three candidates tied for a third seat after each receiving two write‑in votes. The contest was resolved by a random draw; staff later prepared the abstract and certificate for the name drawn. The board recorded that the draw produced Stephanie Durell as the winner.

A supervisor moved to approve the canvass and sign the abstracts; the motion was seconded and carried with the board voting 4-0. The board also approved county claims later in the meeting by the same margin.

Auditor Scaff offered a brief post‑election report, saying, “I think that it went real well. We didn't have a lot of complaints from individuals.” Scaff noted one operational disruption when a fire alarm went off at East High School on election day; trained staff secured ballots and voting equipment and evacuated until the fire department cleared the site, after which voting continued.

Board members thanked election staff and precinct volunteers for their work. The meeting was adjourned after the canvass and claims were approved.