Cerro Gordo County General Election results have been canvassed and are official, but recounts may be on the horizon.
County Auditor Adam Wedmore reported that Monday afternoon provisional ballots were counted by a special board. Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors met to accept the canvas of the election and declared the results official.
Now that the canvas has been completed, candidates are allowed three days in which to request a recount.
Wedmore said Democrat Amanda Ragan has already requested a recount of the vote for District 1 County Supervisor. Chris Watts was declared a winner over Ragan by 13 votes, 2,917 to 2,904. The recount was scheduled to take place at noon Wednesday, Nov. 16.
In the District 3 Supervisor race, Lori Meacham Ginapp won by three votes over Don O’Connor, 2,280 to 2277. Wedmore said Tuesday that O’Connor had not yet requested a recount. He has until 5 p.m. Friday to ask for the measure.
O’Connor received three more votes after the count of special military absentee ballots and absentee ballots cast as part of the state’s Safe at Home program.
Watts and Ragan each received one more vote from the provisional ballots. In addition, Watts picked up two votes after a special administrative recount was held for ballots cast in Mason City Ward 3 Precinct 1 (Masonic Temple) and Ward 3 Precinct 2 (School Administration Building). Each location had one ballot not counted on Election Day due to voting machine paper jams.
In the other Supervisor race, incumbent Republican Casey Callanan was unopposed in his re-election bid. He received 5,159 votes.
Two other races were uncontested in Cerro Gordo County. Recorder AnnMarie Legler and County Attorney Carlyle Dalen each won re-election. Legler received 11,933 votes, while Dalen got 11,550.
In the race for County Treasurer, Republican Nikki Fessler defeated Democrat Peggy Meany 9,570 to 7,044.
Iowa House District 59 candidate Doug Campbell, who lost to Democratic incumbent Sharon Steckman, 6,328 to 5,589, is also asking for a recount. The Republican stated on social media he felt the numbers “do not look right.” “It’s almost 12,000 people voting and 10,000 of those voting for the second amendment. Why would they vote for Sharon who is against the Second Amendment? Just doesn’t add up.”
The state of Iowa only pays for recounts if candidates are within 1 percent of each other. Since Campbell is not within that margin, he will have to pay the $150 cost. Wedmore said he is still working to set up the time for the recount.
Wedmore said there is also a possibility that the State Auditor’s race may also be recounted. Democrat Rob Sand leads Republican challenger Todd Halbur by 2,614 votes, or about 0.2 percentage points. “We are hearing rumors about a recount, but we are not sure if it will be county-by-county or a statewide recount,” Wedmore said.
In the State Senator District 30 contest, Whitney Mixdorf, a Democrat from Clear Lake, was defeated by Republican Waylon Brown, 9,348 to 7,487. Mixdorf won eight of 12 Mason City precincts, but was bested in all three Clear Lake voting wards, as well as eight township precincts.
Republican Shannon Latham, of Sheffield, was unopposed in her re-election bid to the new House District 55 which includes all of Franklin, southeastern Wright, and all of Hamilton counties. Republican Jane Bloomingdale, of Northwood, was also uncontested in her bid for re-election to the new House District 60 seat that includes the western third of Cerro Gordo, all of Worth and Mitchell, and the northwestern part of Floyd counties.
The Republicans also swept statewide races. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds was returned to office. She defeated Democrat Deidre Dejear. Chuck Grassley won an eighth term in the U.S. Senate, defeating Democrat Mike Franken.
