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County orders recount after Sergeant Bluff school bond falls 7 votes short
Summary
Woodbury County auditors accepted a petition and the board authorized a public recount for a Sergeant Bluff school bond measure after officials said seven votes would have changed the 60% outcome. The recount is proposed for Monday the 24th at 1 p.m.; legal guidance from the Secretary of State was cited.
The Woodbury County Board of Supervisors voted to accept a recount petition for a Sergeant Bluff school bond measure and authorized a public recount process proposed for Monday the 24th at 1 p.m.
County Auditor Michelle Scaff, acting as commissioner of elections, told the board the measure received 1,968 total votes and 1,174 affirmative votes, and that a shift of seven votes would have changed the outcome under the 60% threshold required for passage. Scaff said recent statutory changes (House File 928) created interpretive questions about recount eligibility and that she had sought guidance from the Secretary of State and from counsel before recommending the recount proceed. "So if 7 votes had been shifted from no's to yes, then that measure would have passed," she said.
Scaff outlined the logistics: the recount will examine six affected precincts (four polling locations plus absentee ballots), open ballot containers and compare original election-day totals to the recount totals in public. The petitioners delegated Superintendent Chad Jansen to represent them; Scaff said she and the petitioners selected Deputy Steve Hoffmeyer as the third recount-board member.
Board members voted 3-0 to receive the recount petition and proceed with the public recount as described. The county said it will issue a public notice with timing and location details.
