Petersen retains seat over Schroeder by 2 votes

The Pierce County Board of Canvassers convened Friday, April 15 to oversee a recount for Pierce County Board District 14. In the April 5 election, challenger Melissa Petersen won over incumbent Bill E. Schroeder by two votes and those results remained the same after Friday’s recount. Petersen had 195 votes compared to Schroeder’s 193.

Schroeder, who petitioned the recall, said his experience with a close vote in 2014 prompted his decision to ask for the recall.

“When you lose by only two, it’s pretty easy for a mistake to be made,” Schroeder said. “In 2014, during the canvass, they found three votes that belonged on my side of the fence on my opponent’s side. I ended up winning by seven or eight then.”

Schroeder wasn’t present at Friday’s recount nor did he have any observers in attendance. Petersen had several observers at Friday’s open meeting who monitored elec- tion officials from the Village of Bay City and towns of Trenton, Isabelle and Hartland as they performed recount duties. “When the preliminary outcome for the race was so close, I knew it was likely that a recount would be petitioned,” Petersen said. “I moved through the process with a natural sense of trepidation; however, once the actual recount process commenced, the professional and thorough nature of the folks who worked the polls, and were now recounting, became abundantly clear. I feel blessed to participate at such depth in a process that so

See RECOUNT, Page 7

Melissa Petersen

Bill Schroeder RECOUNT

FROM PAGE 1 clearly defines our American way of life." County Clerk Jamie Feuerhelm, joined by Board of Canvassers members Kenneth Peterson and John Danneker, explained the process for the recount. The board voted to use the hand count tabulation method. Deputy Clerk Cyndi Kern wheeled the ballots into the county board room and unlocked the container in which they were stored.

During the recount process, according to the state elections recount procedures manual, all steps taken, objections made, evidence introduced and decisions made by the board must be recorded in writing and preserved with the election materials.

The election officials followed the pro cedure laid out in the manual (separately for each municipality). The process took close to three hours.

1. Review voters lists 2. Absentee ballot review 3. Review of written applications 4. The board examines rejected ab- sentee ballot certificate envelopes, which are placed in a brown carrier envelope. These defective envelopes should have been identified by poll workers on election night and marked “rejected.”

5. The board next examines the used absentee ballot certificate envelopes con tained in the white carrier envelope. An absentee ballot is defective if the envelope has not been signed by both the voter and a witness.

6. Ballot container – The board of canvassers examines the ballot bag or ballot container to determine that it has not been tampered with, and/or opened and resealed. The board notes in the minutes any irregularities or possible tampering with the ballots.

7. Ballot review – The board opens the ballot bag or ballot container and re- moves the contents. The canvassers or tabulators count the number of ballots in the ballot bag, excluding any ballots that were set aside by the poll workers on election night.

8. Separate absentee ballots – The canvassers then separate all the probable absentee ballots from the other ballots. The number of probable absentee ballots should agree with the number of properly com- pleted certificate envelopes, the number of absentee ballots recorded on the registration list on election night, and the number of written applications. Any discrepancies should be recorded in the minutes.

9. Treatment of excess ballots – If the number of ballots exceeds the number of voters, the board or tabulators place all the ballots face up to check for blank ballots. Any blank ballots (ballots which have not been marked for any office) are marked, set aside, and carefully preserved.

10. Reviewing provisional and late arriving military ballots – The board exam- ines the Inspectors' Certificate for Provi sional Ballots, provisional ballot reporting form and Provisional Ballot Certificate en velopes to determine if provisional ballots were correctly processed.

11. Counting the ballots – The board or tabulators then carefully count the ballots. The results are recorded on duplicate tally sheets which are clearly labeled that they are for the election recount. The recount vote totals are recorded in the minutes. If any person objects to any ballot, a majority of the board of canvassers decides whether the ballot is valid. The board of canvassers may consult with its legal counsel or the Elections Board staff regarding any objection.

12. Prepare Canvass Statement – After completing the recount, the board of canvassers prepares a statement of the revised election results on the canvass report.

“The end result supports the seriousness which all of the folks that participate in this process take their job,” Petersen said. “Unfortunately, I think it shows a fundamental lack of respect for the community that the individual that petitioned for the recount did not show up or provide any observers. With that in mind, I would like to thank all the folks that did come to observe and make it clear my goals are community centered and will work hard to represent everyone in District 14 and Pierce County.”

Schroeder said he didn’t feel it was necessary that he be there because he trusts the process and the election officials. “I trusted the people doing it,” he said. “I didn’t need to be looking over their shoulders. And I know that when it got all done, it would be fair. I had observers, but not by name. Plus Jamie Feuerhelm has a lot of integrity.”

Petersen and other observers objected to Schroeder’s ballot being counted in Ward 2, Town of Trenton. Petersen declared that Schroeder doesn’t even live in Pierce County, to her knowledge, and that a bed in a building zoned for commercial is not only not allowed, but not a residence.

“He lays his head at night in Wacouta, Minn.,” Petersen said.

Schroeder, by phone on Monday, countered that he pays $30,000 in real estate taxes each year in Trenton and moved to Hager City in 1973.

“I have a residential home there,” Schroeder said. “I do sleep at the shop occasionally and I do have a camper there at that address, but I winterize it because I’m gone a lot in the winter. I have a cabin in (Wacouta) Minnesota, and I do stay there occasionally, but as far as my primary residence, no it is not.”

Schroeder said that same accusation came up many years ago from Ralph Schommer. However, nothing came of it because by state statute, he was proven to be a resident, Schroeder said.

Petersen said she’s not planning to pursue it, but would have if the recount had turned out differently. She said she would also consider pursuing it further if Schroeder decides to run for Pierce County Board in the future.

Schroeder is disappointed he lost, but said he’s proud of the work he accomplished on the board and the relationships he forged with county staff.

“I treat everyone with respect and I’m not a hard guy to get along with,” Schroeder said. “I do have some ideas that are seasoned that I did in my own businesses. You hate to toot your own horn.”

Schroeder is proud of the bridge work Pierce County was able to do thanks to a $7 million bond and the money it saved taxpayers.

"With inflation, what would it cost us now to do all the work on those bridges that we did with that bond?” he said. “We got it all done in two years. If we had gone through all the normal channels, such as cost-sharing with the federal government, it would have taken eight years. Look at the millions of dollars that got saved, doing some basic business principles.”

He’s also pleased that the highway department was able to replace its mainte- nance truck fleet with a financing option. Now District 14 will see what Petersen can accomplish as she takes the reins. First off, she believes committee meetings and the county board’s annual reorganizational meeting and budget hearing should be held during evening hours, when people aren’t working.

“I will work to make the county board committee membership equal for every district and more accessible to all citizens, including working citizens who cannot attend because of the board’s current rules of holding certain meetings during working hours,” Petersen said.

As for Schroeder, don’t count him out yet. He would like to continue serving constituents and may run again.

“My gut feeling right now is yes, but it’s hard to tell where a person will be in two years,” Schroeder said.