Posted: 11/9/04
Houston County voter turnout tops 80 percent
A lot of people voted in Houston County at the General Election last Tuesday.
A total of 11,173 people voted in Houston County, which is 80.36 percent of the voters. County Auditor Pete Johnson said thatís the highest percentage of voters since he started in 1991.
The county also sent out 815 absentee ballots, the most ever.
Johnson and his staff of deputy auditor Char Meiners, Mary Gulbranson, Dar Peter, Nancy Peter, Carol Sherburne, compiled the results, with additional help from county employees Tammy Mauss, Bev Bauer, and Mary Betz. They finished at about 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning.
Here are county results for national, state and local races.
School board
ï Barb Hurley, Jean Meyer, and Mike Novak were elected to the board of ISD#299, Caledonia. Hurley, an incumbent, received 2,175 votes, Meyer 1,939, and Novak 1,469.
The other two candidates, Joel Lidstrom and Michele Pierce, received 1,287 and 1,029 votes respectively.
Incumbents Dave Klinski and Suzanne Roesler did not seek reelection.
The new positions start on January 1, 2005, and run for four years.
ï In Houston ISD#294, Katherine Solum, Cindy Davis, and Steve Scheu were elected with 1,055, 1,020, and 1,014 votes respectively.
County commissioner
Ann Thompson was reelected Houston County commissioner for district three, receiving 1,218 votes to Mark Coffieldís 839.
Tom Bjerke was elected Houston County commissioner for district five, defeating incumbent Nels Gulbranson, 1,248 to 577.
Larry Graf, running unopposed, was reelected Houston County commissioner for district one with 2,103 votes.
Soil and water district
Glenn Kinneberg defeated Harold Jetson in the Soil and Water Conservation district three race, 5,631 to 3,408.
Incumbents Vernon Fruechte and Joseph McManimon were reelected to districts four and five, receiving 8,809 and 8,507 votes respectively. They were unopposed.
Minnesota House races
Incumbent Independent-Republican Greg Davids was reelected to the District 31B Minnesota House of Representatives seat, defeating DFL candidate Peggy Hanson 10,349 to 9.435.
The Houston County total was 4,992 for Davids and 4,738 for Hanson.
In the 31A race, DFL incumbent Gene Pelowski received 667 votes to Nick Ridgeís 422.
National results
In the U.S. presidential election, George W. Bush received 5,631 votes to John Kerryís 5,276.
In the U.S. First Congressional District from Minnesota election, incumbent Republican Gil Gutknecht received 6,601 votes to 3,708 for Democrat Leigh Pomeroy.
City elections
Here are city results, with votes listed in parentheses.
ï In Brownsville, Tim Serres (263) was elected mayor. Steve Lee had 23 write in votes. Rick Voshart (267) and Gary Schulze (239) were elected to the council for four year terms.
ï In Eitzen, Ron Meyer (136) was elected mayor, and councilmen Jeff Adamson (119) and Bryan Spier (118) were elected to the council.
ï In Hokah, Mike Walsh Jr. (159) was elected mayor. Cindy Pfiffner (200) and Rita Christianson (171) were elected to four-year council positions. Lance Ross (118) was elected to the two year position, defeating Kim Fordall (105) and Laurie Sennes (53)
ï In Houston, Connie Krenzke (338) was elected mayor Francis Van Gundy (380) and Fred Huhn (304) were elected to the city council. Jim Edwards (173) finished third.
ï In La Crescent, Mike Poellinger (1,809) was elected mayor, defeating Randi Harms Friedl (971). Dale Williams (1,583) and Ben Rudert (1,127) were elected to the city council, defeating Dave Hanifl (1,071) and Scott Lintelman (867).
ï In Spring Grove, Pearl Holland (334) defeated Heather Gray (292) for mayor. Karen Folstad (396) and Duane Olerud (352) won the two council seats. Lisa Morken (259) finished third.
(See related story for Caledonia city election results. See page 5 for election results by Township.)
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