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No change after recount as Batchelder advances in Bemidji council race

Recount election officials Kailey Rucinski and DJ Johnson sort ballots while Beltrami County Auditor-Treasurer JoDee Treat and Ward 5 Candidate Michael Meehlhause
Larissa Donovan
/
KAXE
Recount officials Kailey Rucinski, left, and DJ Johnson sort ballots while Beltrami County Auditor-Treasurer JoDee Treat and Ward 5 Candidate Michael Meehlhause observe the process on Aug. 28, 2024.

The hand-counted results led to the same number of votes for each candidate as the preliminary results from primary Election Day.

BEMIDJI — Nothing will change after a recount of the Aug. 13 primary for a Bemidji City Council race.

Ward 5 candidate Michael Meehlhause called for the publicly funded recount in the race after he came in third, garnering seven fewer votes than Bill Batchelder. Fewer than 400 votes were cast in the three-way race between Meehlhause, Batchelder and incumbent Council Member Lynn Eaton.

Votes for Eaton were excluded from the recount that took place in the Beltrami County Board Room on Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 28.

Beltrami County Auditor-Treasurer JoDee Treat explains the recount procedures, indicating the sealed election night ballots, plus three categories of early voting or absentee ballots, on Aug. 28, 2024.
Larissa Donovan
/
KAXE
Beltrami County Auditor-Treasurer JoDee Treat explains the recount procedures, indicating the sealed election night ballots, plus three categories of early voting or absentee ballots, on Aug. 28, 2024.

County Auditor-Treasurer JoDee Treat announced at the end that the results for the two candidates were the same as the primary.

“Since there are no challenged ballots, the summary statement and the recounted abstract will go to the canvassing board tomorrow at noon and that concludes our recount,” Treat said.

The canvassing board is the Bemidji City Council, which will meet Thursday to certify the results.

The top two primary finishers, Eaton and Batchelder, will then appear on ballots for the Ward 5 seat this November.

Observers had the option to announce themselves as representing the public or a specific candidate during the Bemidji City Council recount on Aug. 28, 2024. Observers included Ward 3 Council Member Ron Johnson, left, and Bemidji Mayor Jorge Prince, center.
Larissa Donovan
/
KAXE
Observers had the option to announce themselves as representing the public or a specific candidate during the Bemidji City Council recount on Aug. 28, 2024. Observers included Ward 3 Council Member Ron Johnson, left, and Bemidji Mayor Jorge Prince, center.

Larissa Donovan has been in the Bemidji area's local news scene since 2016, joining the KAXE newsroom in 2023 after several years as the News Director for the stations of Paul Bunyan Broadcasting.