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Heavy voter turn-out yielded some surprises

Posted Online: 11/13/02

By Evelyn Puffer

It may not have been a record voter turn-out in Isanti County Nov. 5 but anyone who had to wait in line to vote could easily believe the 79.9 percent voter participation logged by the Minnesota Secretary of State's Office.

Even with the large turn-out and the unexpected paper ballot count in the U.S. Senate race, Stanchfield Township was the first into the Isanti County Government Center at 9:43 p.m. election night, far earlier than predictions.

The other precincts followed closely behind with Cambridge Township and Cambridge City totals on the board in the Government Center hallway just before 1:25 a.m. Wednesday.

All in all, the process went well, said Isanti County Auditor Terry Treichel a day later. It is his office and staff who are responsible for pulling the information together and reporting the results.

In the heated race for Isanti County sheriff that had pitted two of the department's investigators against each other, Mike Ammend out-polled his opponent Tim Akers in all of the county's precincts for a 8,038 win to Akers' 5,782.

Ammend has been employed by the Isanti County Sheriff's Department since 1987 when he was hired as jail administrator. He was then promoted to chief deputy/undersheriff and for the past six years has served as a criminal investigator. It was his second bid for the office of sheriff.

Another closely-watched race was the Commissioner seat in District 2 where Sheriff Larry Southerland, who chose not to run for re-election for sheriff, was running against John Wayne Wood, a long-time critic of the county's zoning practices. Although Wood was the top vote-getter in Dalbo, Maple Ridge and Wyanett townships, he couldn't garner enough votes to take the race away from Southerland whose strength was most noticeable in the city of Braham and Stanchfield Township. Total count when the night was over: 1,716 for Southerland to 1,454 for Wood.

In Commissioner District 5, long-time commissioner Glenn Johnson was challenged by Public Defender Steve Anderson who ran his campaign with the "change is good" theme. Not enough voters apparently subscribed to that theme, and Johnson retained his commissioner seat on a 1,581 to 1,075 margin.

In an upset that took some local pundits by surprise, Republican Sean Nienow of Cambridge pulled ahead of incumbent District 17 Senator Twyla Ring for a clear victory at 18,924 to Ring's 17,103.

Ring appeared philosophical about her loss commenting, "I have no regrets, I feel that I've served honorably and well. I've made a positive difference in the lives of Minnesotans in my brief Senate tenure. I ran a fair and squeaky-clean campaign."

She added, in what those who know her would say was typical Ring fashion, "I've got my Social Security check in the bank, my Medicare card in my wallet and I'm going to Disney World!"

In House District 17A, incumbent representative Rob Eastlund (R) pulled out a victory in that new district with 8,927 to 7,839 for Pat Sundberg of Isanti. It was Sundberg's first official run for the House although she had made a bid for the DFL endorsement in a prior election year.

Long-time House member Rep. Loren Jennings, running for re-election in the new House District 8B, lost out to Republican Judy Soderstrom who pulled in 49.74 percent of the vote over Jennings' 42 percent. Totals in that race were 7,770 for Soderstrom and 6,633 for Jennings.

It was 3 a.m. Wednesday morning before the Fish Lake (Chisago County) votes were available in the Cambridge-Isanti Dist. 911 balloting and it was quickly clear that the small precinct couldn't pull out a win for the Dist. 911 excess levy referendum.

Voters defeated Question No. 1- 5916 to 4501; Question No. 2- 5776-4107 and Question No. 3- 5930-3925.

It was a weary District 911 Superintendent Ken Runberg who announced the Fish Lake votes and the end of the ballot counting about 3 a.m. Wednesday. "It's disappointing," said Runberg, "but we'll make it." He then added, "We're going to have to make some decisions."

The Dist. 911 School Board races took several twists and turns as the votes came in finally settling on re-election of the three incumbents, Valerie Peterson who took the top vote count at 6,198; Clark Johnson with 5,632; and Jack Williams Jr. with 4,671. Candidate Ed Hill, who was running for the position now held by Jennifer Becker, came in third with 4,818 votes. Becker, who didn't file for re-election, ran a write-in campaign late in the race but didn't pull sufficient votes to remain on the board. Dawn vanHees of Isanti finished "out of the money" with 4,510 votes.

In Isanti City, David Apitz, running unopposed for mayor received 738 votes for a return to office but current council member Louise Fuhol lost that position to city planning commission member Jim Kennedy on a 432-366 vote. Incumbent council member Sue Larson received 525 votes to return her to that council seat for another four years. Incumbent council member Ralph Johnson, seeking a return to his two-year seat, received 711 votes.

In Cambridge, voters approved Sunday liquor on a vote of 1379-1195. The city council will decide Nov. 18 when that will go into effect and whether it will require an ordinance amendment.

In the city of Braham, Mayor Turnquist ran unopposed and received 414 votes. Vicky Ethen will return to her council seat with 243 votes and retired pharmacist and former Dist. 314 School Board member Lowell Jaques received 247 votes for a seat at the council table. In the council race, Patricia Carlson received 175 votes and Ray Purdy 104.