County residents overwhelmingly support school referendum

On Tuesday, November 8, Julie Berglund and Kim Shepard (right) were at the courthouse accepting ballots for those who didn’t want to mail them in. By 11 a.m. 100 people had voted at the courthouse polling station. Staff photo Brian Larsen

When the votes were counted, some 2,071 Cook County residents (73.05%) voted YES to extend the Independent School District 166 referendum up to ten years. The refer­endum, which authorizes $800 per student per year, was set to expire after taxes payable in 2022. A little more than one-quarter of voters, 26.74 percent or 764 voters, voted NO to extend the referendum.

Reaching out to I.S.D. 166 Superintendent Chris Lindholm the morning after the November 8 elec­tion, Lindholm had this to say, “Cook County Schools is exceptionally pleased and grateful for the sup­port of the community and for the many ways the community embraces students and public edu­cation. The approval of the operating levy renewal will provide important stability for the district as we move into implementation of the recently updated strategic plan. Thank you on behalf of the students, the staff, and the school board of Cook County Schools!”

Commissioner races  

 

In the District 1 race for an open Cook County Commissioner seat, Debra White garnered 238 votes to defeat Yastrianne “Yanne” Spry, who got 149 votes. District 2 incumbent Stacey Hawkins received 450 votes to 117 for David Berglund, who announced over one month ago he was withdrawing from the race.

Running unopposed in District 3, David Mills picked up 588 votes, while 14 write-in votes were cast.

Ann Sullivan retained her District 4 seat with 66.67 percent of the vote in her race against Theresa Luther-Dolan. Sullivan got 494 votes to 243 votes for Dolan.

Ginny Storlie was once again reelected to rep­resent District 5. Storlie received 341 votes to 283 for Bruce Martinson.

County officials

Several county office­holders were running unopposed. County Auditor/Treasurer Braidy Powers got 99.64 percent of the vote. He received 2,732 votes, while ten write-in ballots were filled out. Long-time County Recorder Dusty Nelms tallied 2,649 votes, which was 99.62 percent, with ten ballots cast for write- ins. Cook County Sheriff Patrick Eliasen picked up 2,674 votes which was 97.10 percent. Some 2.9 percent of write-in bal­lots were cast (80) for the Sheriff position.

Cook County Attorney Molly Hicken got 97.48 percent of the vote. Molly received 2,551 votes, while 66 votes were cast for other people.

Soil and Water

In the special elec­tion for Soil and Water Supervisor District 1, Gregg Westigard got 2,278 votes, or 99.43 percent of the votes cast. Stanley Tull received 2,406 votes (99.38 percent) for the District 2 supervisor seat.

State Senate and congressional race

In the District 3 State Senate race, a late count pushed Hermantown City Councilor Grant Hauschild past Republican Andrea Zupancich. Hauschild received 50.77 percent of the vote compared to 49.15 percent for Zupancich, the mayor of Babbitt. Hauschild won all 14 precincts in Cook County, picking up 2,170 votes to 1,044 for, Zupancich. Meanwhile, Ely mayor Roger Skraba, a republican, defeated incumbent Rob Ecklund in another tightly contested race. Skraba picked up 10,868 votes to Eklund’s 10,853. Skraba received 50.01 to 49.84 percent for Ecklund, with 22 write-in votes cast. But just like Hauschild, Ecklund won all of the precincts in Cook County, collecting 2,235 votes to 979 for Skraba.

School board results

In the I.S.D. 166, school board race Erik Redix picked up 255 votes to 139 for Theresa Donovan to take the District 1 seat. Incumbent Rena Rogers received 487 votes to defeat challenger Kim Nelson, who got 196 votes. In the District 3 race. District 5 incumbent Dan Shirley received 469 votes to defeat Rae M. Piepho, who got 159 votes.

Hospital board incumbent Patricia Winchell-Dahl ran unopposed in District 1, receiving 278 votes, or 97.89 per­cent of ballots cast. Likewise, Randy Wiitala, the incum­bent for District 5, ran unopposed. Randy got 425 votes or 97.93 percent.

In District 8 Congressional race, incumbent Pete Stauber won convincingly over challenger Jen Schultz. Stauber picked up 188,070 votes or 57.19 percent of bal­lots cast to 42.71 percent for Shultz, who received 140,433 votes. However, in Cook County, Stauber only got 33.17 percent of the votes to 66.80 percent for Schulz. Stauber received 1,074 votes to 2,163 votes for Schultz in the county.

Grand Marais city council/mayor

City Councilor Tracy Benson will be the new mayor for the City of Grand Marais. Benson ran unopposed and will replace Jay Decoux, who decided not to run again. Benson picked up 591 votes. Aaron Carlson received 464 votes and Benjamin Peters (Ben) got 417 votes for the city council. Both will be new to the city council, and both ran unopposed.