Recount gives challenger an edge

DENISON, Iowa — A recount in the Denison mayoral election gave challenger Dennis Fineran a three-vote lead, but incumbent Nathan Mahrt vows he will contest the results.

The recount concluded with disagreement over eight ballots and a 2-1 vote to allow those ballots to be counted.

Fineran received 350 votes in the recount to 347 for Mahrt.

Mahrt actually picked up one vote in the recount. A voter in Ward 1 had marked a ballot with an “x” in the oval next to Mahrt’s name. The theory is that the “x” was too faint for the machine to count.

Fineran gained one vote from Ward 2 but lost one vote in Ward 3 compared with the voting machine count on Election Day.

The election will be contested, however. Mahrt said he will contest the inclusion of eight ballots that gave Fineran the winning margin. Excluding the challenged ballots would have given Mahrt a two-vote victory.

The three members of the recount board were Tom Eller, representing Fineran; Bradley Nelson, representing Mahrt; and Leo Remmes, who was selected by both Eller and Nelson.

The disagreement over the eight ballots occurred when they completed the recount of the Ward 2 votes.

The board’s recount of the ballots removed from the sealed envelope was 86 for Mahrt to 80 for Fineran. That represented a discrepancy compared with the voting machine’s count on election night of 88 votes for Mahrt and 85 votes for Fineran.

Crawford County Auditor Terri Martens had her staff search for missing ballots. A box with nine ballots was found in the board of supervisors room. The ballots were between envelopes that contain unvoted ballots.

Martens said she could not explain why the ballots were there.

Nelson’s opinion was if those ballots didn’t come from the sealed envelope, they should not be counted.

Eller said that if those ballots were counted, they could match the voting machine’s count.

Martens checked with the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office, which said election law states the recount board shall recount ballots that were voted and counted on Election Day.

The recount board tallied the ballots but kept them separate.

The recount of the found ballots gave Fineran six more votes, for a total of 86 from Ward 2, and Mahrt two more votes, for a total of 88 from Ward 2.

The ninth ballot was a write-in for Dennis Beymer.

Eller made a motion to count the ballots and declare Fineran the winner. He and Remmes voted yes, and Nelson voted no.

Nelson did not sign the official recount form that showed the 350-347 vote total. He said he still believed Mahrt was the winner.

« Metro/Region

Share