Posted: 9/19/06
No long waits at this yearís primary
By Jane Palen
Managing Editor
What used to take hours took just minutes on primary night, September 12.
Election officials from the 12 polling places began arriving at the Houston County Courthouse about 9 p.m., and by about 9:30, all 4,039 votes were counted.
It was a relief to the county employees who can usually count on a late evening. This year, votes were counted electronically, and the biggest worry was that locations would run out of ballots. According to deputy auditor Char Meiners, one polling place had only two ballots left when the polls closed.
In previous years, if a ballot was incorrectly marked, it would be rejected when the votes were tallied at end of the night. This year, ballots that were marked incorrectly were rejected as soon as they were placed in the electronic counter, so voters had the opportunity to mark a new ballot. Most of the ballots that were rejected had crossed party lines, which is not allowed in a primary.
Turnout was low, as is common for a primary, but still up slightly from previous primary elections according to the auditorís office. There were 12,133 voters registered as of 7 a.m. election day, and 304 people registered at the polls. There was a total of 4,039 votes cast, a turn out of 33 percent.
Nearly half of Houston County voters marked the Republican side of the ticket. The 2,002 votes for the GOP translated into 49.47 percent.
The Democrats had 1,556, or 38.52 percent of the votes, and the Independence Party had 226 votes, or 5.6 percent.
The closest race in the GOP was between Sharon Anderson and Jeff Johnson for attorney general.
In Houston County, Anderson received 912 votes to 843 for Jeff Johnson. Statewide, that result was turned around with Johnson receiving a total of 86,262 votes and Anderson, 62,458.
The race for attorney general was close on the DFL ticket as well. Lori Swanson had 735 votes in the county, and Steve Kelley had 532. Bill Luther received 182 votes.
Swanson was also the winner at the state level with 125,412 votes to 112,150 for Kelley and 62,824 for Luther.
Democrat Mark Ritchie will face incumbent Republican Mary Kiffmeyer in the Secretary of State race in November. Ritchie easily fended off a challenge by Dick Franson for a spot on the ballot.
John James will be the AG candidate for the Independence party.
Two clear winners in sheriffís race
Ken Frank and Doug Ely emerged as the two candidates who will face off in this Novemberís race for sheriff, a non-partisan office.
Frank received 1,409 votes, and Ely grabbed 1,333. Brian Swedberg had 788 and Peggy Thorson, 467.
Ely won 13 of the 27 precincts, and Frank took 10. They tied in Black Hammer and Hokah townships. Swedberg took precincts 1 and 12 in La Crescent.
In commissioner district 2, Larry Connery more than twice the number of votes as Randy Steinfeldt, whose name will also appear on Novemberís ballot. Connery had 442 and Steinfeldt, 202.
Tom Knutson had 166 votes and James Schultz had 127.
District 2 has been represented for 15 years by Kevin Kelleher, who is now running for state senate. It includes Houston city and the townships of Houston, Money Creek, Mound Prairie, Sheldon, Union and Yucatan.
David Corcoran is running unopposed for District 4.
Election results by precinct are available at the Minnesota secretary of state website: www.sos.state.mn.us
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