Marion City Council race now a tie, winner will be drawn from hat

Update, Nov. 10, 2021: Linn County Supervisors decided Wednesday to not draw a name from a hat for the Marion City Council race and are letting a recount commence. Read that story here.

MARION — The winner of a seat on the Marion City Council will be picked Wednesday in an unusual way: by chance.

Incumbent at-large council member Randy Strnad was down by just one vote last week on election night to challenger Dale Monroe — 3,236 to 3,237. But after Tuesday’s official vote canvassing, which included provisional ballots, Strnad pulled ahead by one vote — 3,244 votes to Monroe’s 3,243.

But the story does not end there. After the canvass, Linn County Auditor Joel Miller told The Gazette, Miller asked his team to review write-in votes one last time. They discovered someone had written in Monroe’s name instead of filling in the oval beside his name.

The result: both are tied at 3,244 votes each.

The tie will be broken when one of their names is picked out of a hat during Wednesday’s Linn County Board of Supervisors meeting.

While unusual, that way of deciding tied elections is not unheard of in Iowa and is in fact prescribed under state law. In November 2019, a drawing was held to pick a winner in the tied race for mayor in the Waterloo suburb of Elk Run Heights, Radio Iowa reported. The next month, a drawing was held to pick a winner in a tied mayoral runoff in Fairfield, the Des Moines Register reported.

But regardless of which Marion candidate is drawn as the winner Wednesday, it’s not likely the end of the matter.

Strnad, who has served on the council since he was appointed in 2016 and was reelected in 2018, told The Gazette on Tuesday that he will request a recount if his name isn’t drawn.

“This is a historical deal here,” Strnad said. “But it will probably go to a recount either way. We owe it to our constituents to continue the process.”

Monroe, too, told The Gazette he would request a recount if his name isn’t drawn.

“I think it’s so close that both of us would appreciate a full review of all the votes that were given,” Monroe said.

All candidates in any race across the county have three days from the official results coming out to request a recount.

Marion City Council members are paid $4,800 per year over four-year terms. All new terms begin Jan. 1.

Comments: (319) 398-8255; gage.miskimen@thegazette.com