County Commissioner Canvass - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

County Commissioner Canvass

Election results are still UNofficial.

That's the message Ward County Auditor Devra Smestad would like to make clear.

The canvass of votes will begin next Tuesday and only then will the election results be certified.

Smestad says the Ward County canvassing board will go through the ballots postmarked by the 5th and also the ballots that were set aside as questionable.

North Dakota law allows for a recount if an individual failed to be elected by one-half a percent of the highest vote cast for a candidate for that office.

An individual may demand a recount if he or she failed to be elected by up to two percent of the highest vote cast --- however, a demanded recount would be paid for by the candidate.

(Devra Smestad, Ward County Auditor) "We've had close races in the past and some to the point that they could have a demand or an automatic. Personally, I've never done a recount but it doesn't mean that we can't have our first time."

The Ward County Commissioners race was close enough that the canvassing process MAY have an impact on the unofficial results.

Candidates Shelly Weppler and Jim Lee are close in the race for the third commission seat.

Lee has served on a canvassing board in the past and he says it can still go either way.

(Jim Lee, Ward County Commissioner Candidate) "There's probably a couple hundred, two or three hundred absentee yet that could be counted. It could be a hundred different, it could be fifty different, but still, 75 or 50, that's a little ground to cover. We'll go through the process and see what happens."

The canvassing process will begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday morning and Smestad says the process has never taken longer than one day.