Recount will determine 2 council races

CEDAR RAPIDS - Write-in votes in four Linn County communities in last week's municipal election have forced a hand-count of ballots, which will determine City Council members in Walker and Ely.

County supervisors met briefly Monday in emergency session to authorize the recount. The recount also includes Alburnett and Palo but should not affect outcomes there, County Auditor Joel Miller said.

The recount was called because poll judges' tally sheets from election night don't correspond to machine-vote totals in the four cities.

“We have some inconclusive results right now,” Miller said. “We're trying to get that done in time for the canvass,” which is on the agenda for today's 9 a.m. board session at Linn County West at Westdale Mall.

The recount will determine the third council members for Ely and Walker. The seats in both towns are up for grabs by multiple write-in candidates, Miller said - nearly 30 in Ely.

“They didn't have enough candidates for a ballot to fill it out, so we get all these write-ins,” he said. “We want to account for every single vote.”

The recount to reconcile tally sheets and machine votes in Alburnett and Palo won't change the outcomes there, but state law requires write-in candidates receiving at least 5 percent of the total to be listed on the election abstract, according to Miller.

“I guess the lesson is, if you're going to run for office, it'd certainly be nice to get your name on the ballot,” he said.