ST. PAUL NOTES | Ranked Choice voting will decide Ward 2; Brendmoen edges out incumbent Helgen in Ward 5

In the closest race in St. Paul, incumbent Dave Thune garnered 1880 votes or 38.13 percent of the vote in the Second Ward, which is not a clear victory. Green Party-endorsed Jim Ivey is in second place with 1315 votes for 26.67 percent of the total, followed closely by Bill Hosko with 1290 votes for 26.17 percent of the total. The two trailing candidates are Cynthia Schanno, with 327 votes for 6.63 percent of the vote and Sharon Anderson with 110 votes for 2.23 percent of the total.

This brings Ranked Choice Voting into play, with hand-counting and reallocation of ballots on Monday. The candidates receiving the fewest number of votes, plus candidates who do not have a mathematical chance to win, are eliminated and those votes are reallocated to the candidates marked as second choice on each of those ballots.

With only a 36-vote margin, challenger Amy Brendmoen edged out incumbent Lee Helgen by 1853 to 1817 in the Fifth Ward, with 23 votes going to write-in candidates. That puts her over 50 percent, so Ranked Choice Voting does not come into play. A recount is possible.

In the Third Ward, the only race without an incumbent, Chris Tolbert won, with more than 50 percent of the vote, and a margin of about 1500 votes over his nearest rival, John Mannillo.

Incumbents Melvin Carter III (Ward One), Russ Stark (Ward Four), Dan Bostrom (Ward Six) and Kathy Lantry (Ward Seven) all won re-election.

School Board

Incumbents Anne Carroll and Keith Hardy won re-election to the St. Paul Board of Education. They will be joined by newcomers Louise Seeba and Mary Doran, who will fill two vacant seats.

Mary Turck

Mary Turck (editor@tcdailyplanet.net) is the editor of the TC Daily Planet.