The Cass County Board of Supervisors today (Wednesday) canvassed and certified the results of a recount vote requested for the District 3 Board of Supervisors seat, following the June 5^th Primary. The recount was conducted Monday by a group of three individuals, one each selected by candidates Dana Halder (Dale Gross) and John Hartkopf (David Ginther). The third (Chip Hansen) was chosen in-turn, by Gross and Ginther.

The results, as previously mentioned after the recount, showed 158 votes for Halder, 160 for Hartkopf, and 103 for Linda Templemen. Auditor Dale Sunderman explained the scenarios under how votes may change. He said if a machine rejects a cast ballot (Usually because a mark is too small or the wrong color ink is used), the voter is given the opportunity to re-mark the ballot and return it, but more likelyhood, he says they chose to leave it as is so the machine did not pick it up.

Sunderman said “On a hand count, as long as the marks are consistent for all marks on the ballot, that can be counted as a vote.” That, he says, is likely what happened that allowed Halder to receive one extra vote. Sunderman believes also, that Hartkopf’s loss of a vote could have been a result of an inconsistent mark.

He said if the marks are not consistent, or if someone marks an “X”, the machine doesn’t understand, and it’s hard to determine the voter’s intent when they cast their ballot during a hand count.

In other business, the Board of Supervisors passed on the first reading, an amendment to the Veterans Emergency Assistance Program ordinance, which provides assistance to Cass County military veterans who are unable to meet their basic needs because of an emergency situation. The changes reflect some wording and clarifications.

They also approved the appointment of Dr. Edna Becht as Deputy Cass County Medical Examiner with her term ending 12/31/18, and, a display of fireworks for an unincorporated area of Cass County.