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HomeMy WebLinkAbout[08a] Canvass Election Council Agenda Item 8(a) MEETING DATE: November 14, 2016 AGENDA ITEM: Canvass the Election SUBMITTED BY: Administration BOARD/COMMISSION/COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION: BACKGROUND INFORMATION: 16.2 CANVASS OF THE RETURNS The city council serves as the canvassing board for city elections. The council must meet to canvass the returns and declare the results within two days after a primary and within seven days after a city general election. (M.S. 205.185, subd. 3; 205.065, subd. 5) The steps to canvass the results are: 1. The clerk prepares a canvass report to accumulate results from multiple precincts; this report may be available from the state Election Reporting System; 2. The clerk provides the canvassing board with the summary statements from the election judges (and a canvass report for totals if more than one precinct in the city) to examine and declare the results; 3. Inn the case of a tie vote, the canvassing board determines the winner by lot; and 4. Errors by election judges in counting may be corrected by following specific procedures as prescribed by law. (M.S. 204C.3839; 205.185) 16.3.1 Discretionary Municipal Recounts While there is no automatic recount for municipal elections, a losing candidate for nomination or election to a municipal office may request a manual recount of the votes cast for the nomination or election to that office at the jurisdiction’s expense if the difference between the votes cast for that candidate and for a winning candidate for nomination or election is less than one half of one percent of the total votes counted for that office or if the difference between the vote cast for that candidate and for a winning candidate for nomination or election is ten votes or less and the total number of votes cast for the nomination or election of all candidates is no more than 400. A losing candidate may request a recount at their own expense if the difference is greater than these stated differences. In cases of offices where two or more seats are being filled from among all the candidates for the office, the one half of one percent is the difference between the elected candidate with the fewest votes and the candidate with the most votes from among the candidates who were not elected. The candidate requesting the recount at their own expense may provide the filing officer with a list of up to three precincts that are to be recounted first and may waive the balance of the recount after these recounts have been counted. If the winner of the race is changed by the result of the recount or if the difference between the result of the recount and what was reported on Election Day is more than the accepted margin of error for the post election review, the cost of the recount is paid by the jurisdiction conducting the recount. (M.S. 204C.36, subd. 1; 204C.36, subd. 2) BUDGET/FISCAL IMPACT: ATTACHMENTS: Request for Council action REQUESTED COUNCIL ACTION: The required action would be to accept the results and declare the wining candidates to be Rick Schultz for Mayor and Bob Loso and Troy Goracke as Councilors.