Mindham wins Colfax-Mingo school election by draw
By JOHN JENNINGS NDN Staff Writer
The canvass of the school board elections throughout Jasper County on Friday by the board of supervisors had just about as much drama and excitement as a school board canvass can have.
Most of the elections in school districts across the county were uncontested, but in Colfax-Mingo’s second district, Eric Harmison and Diana Mindham were vying for one seat. Following the election Tuesday, the two candidates were tied, with each receiving 204 votes.
The canvass began with Assistant Commissioner of Elections Tina Mulgrew presenting the supervisors with three absentee ballots which had not yet been counted. The ballots must be postmarked before the election and received before the canvass to be counted. Any one of those ballots, had they been for the Colfax-Mingo School election, could have changed the vote count. However, two of them were for PCM, and one for Newton. Thus, Suzanne Morecock and Sandy Breckenridge received an additional two votes in PCM’s election, and Joe Klingensmith received an additional vote in Newton’s election, neither of which altered the final results.
But following the canvas Mindham and Harmison were still tied. According to Iowa Code, in the event of a tie, the candidates’ names can be placed in a receptacle and the supervisors may draw a winner.
Jasper County Auditor Dennis Parrott placed the names of the two candidates in plastic containers of equal size and placed both containers inside a box. Supervisor Max Worthington drew out the name of Diana Mindham, who was declared the winner.
Eric Harmison has until 5 p.m. on Sept. 17 to call for a recount. If a recount is held, each candidate will select an individual to sit on the recount board, plus another person jointly agreed to by the two candidates. The county auditor would oversee the recount board, and they would determine if the recount is conducted by machine or by hand count.
If the recount report is different than the Board of Supervisors’ canvass, the supervisors will reconvene within three days after being notified and will correct its previous proceedings. If there are no changes as a result of the recount, the election results will stand as certified.
Following the canvass, Harmison said he needed some time to decide whether he will call for a recount.
