By Roz Weis,
Polls across Iowa have closed, and the results of the Nov. 7 election are being tabulated. In Decorah, the city and school board election resulted in some familiar elected officials as well as some new faces. Winneshiek County Auditor Ben Steines said this election was a bit different, with more write-in candidates on the ballots than ever before. Steines released the names of write-in candidates Nov. 9.
With 100 percent of the county precincts reporting, Steines reported there were 3,383 total ballots cast. Winneshiek County has 11,341 registered voters. There were 1,038 absentee ballots included in the final unofficial election figures.
In the race for the Decorah City Council At-Large seat, Emily Neal won the election with 1,291 votes compared to 336 write-in votes for Rebecca Swella Smedsrud.
In the election for City of Decorah – Ward 2 (no name on the ballot), Christopher Miculinich was declared the winner with 216 write-in votes.
In Decorah City Council Ward 1, Brent Parker was elected with 268 votes over Jody Meyer, who had 157 votes. There were five write-in votes cast in Ward 1.
In Decorah City Council Ward 4, incumbent Steven Zittergruen had 131 votes to win the election. There were seven write-in votes cast in Ward 4.
On the ballot for Decorah Park and Recreation Commissioner, Richard Gaard, Kathy Bakken and Brian Fuhrmann were elected.
In the Decorah Community School District Board of Directors At-Large race, the most votes went to Carole Sand with 1,780, Brian Petersburg with 1,593, and Aaron Zander with 1,203. Others on the ballot included Brad Darling with 1,186 votes and Zachary Robinson with 872 votes. There were 46 write-in votes cast for the school board seat.
Jim Anderson had 1,363 votes in Winneshiek County compared to Julie Askelson’s 1,188 votes in the race for Northeast Iowa Community College Director District 3. There were nine write-in votes cast. On the Howard County ballot, Askelson received 462 votes, compared to 349 for Jim Anderson. There were six write-in votes reported.
These unofficial results will be canvassed Tuesday morning, Nov. 14, at the courthouse annex. See the Decorah Public Opinion for complete results from across Winneshiek County.
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