Update – The absentee ballot board will not meet until Tuesday, Nov. 13, at noon
Unofficial final results of the race for county treasurer may be announced Friday afternoon, according to county auditor Jane Heun.
Balloting on Tuesday yielded 2,023 votes for incumbent Democrat Donna Lawson and 2,026 votes for Republican Katlynn Gannon/Mechaelsen. However, there were 40 absentee ballots not accounted for.
The absentee ballots will be valid if they were postmarked on or before Nov. 5 and if they’re received by mail at the auditor’s office before the supervisors canvass the vote at the conclusion of their regular meeting Nov.13 (on Tuesday due to Veterans Day).
Additionally, there are four provisional ballots that have not been determined.
With a difference of only three votes, the absentee ballots and provisional ballots could determine the outcome of the election.
No absentee ballots were in the auditor’s mail Wednesday. Heun said it’s possible the missing ballots never arrive. She said people sometimes lose ballots before they return them. Some of them vote at the polls and that voids the absentee ballot, but some of them just don’t vote. People who request their ballots well in advance of the election are generally more likely not to return them, Heun said.
Billie Jo Hoskins, deputy auditor for elections, said an absentee ballot board composed of the poll workers who handled absentee ballots Tuesday will meet Friday to open and count any absentee ballots and to consider the provisional ballots.
The winner of the treasurers race will be determined then, with results unofficial until the canvass on Tuesday.
