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Rock County voter turnout 75 percent, local precincts report first in state

Subhead
Nolz, Sasker, DeBates, Hartman on school board; Aaker keeps council seat; Baustian loses bid for house
By
Lori Sorenson

Rock County voter turnout in the 2022 general election was nearly 75 percent, according to local election official Ashley Kurtz.
Of Rock County’s 5,582 registered voters, 4,163 participated in the midterm (non-presidential) election.
That turnout is high compared with Minnesota’s 60.66 percent turnout and the national turnout of just under 50 percent. However, Kurtz said 2022’s local participation is similar to the 2018 midterm election, which attracted 73.44 percent of Rock County voters.
Rock County stood out in the 2022 election for another reason, according to Kurtz.
“We are proud to say we were the first county in the state fully reported,” she shared in an email at 9:10 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8, after all local precincts had reported.
“Everything went well. I feel like we have a great system at the courthouse on Election Night. We have lots of help, including employees from other departments such as Administration and Land Records.”
She said the staff divides and conquers election night duties, with an absentee processing room, a mail ballot processing room and one person assigned strictly to uploading results.
Meanwhile a group of employees assists those from the polls bringing in results, and others help carry equipment in as it’s being brought back from the precincts. 
“We’ve done it this way for a few years, and it works really well for us,” Kurtz said. 
“Every year we learn things that we can tweak for the next election, so it seems like the process gets quicker and more efficient each election. 
Kurtz said credit for a smooth election night is shared with many.
“Our city clerks and election judges that process polling place results work hard to make sure their numbers all balance before getting to the courthouse as well, which also helps the process,” she said. 
“There are a lot of tasks that have to happen from the time that the polls close at 8 p.m. and when the results are posted online. I think we’ve come up with a good system to get us there.”
 
Rock County deep red
Meanwhile, Rock County voters showed their true Republican colors on their ballots for state and federal offices in Minnesota.
DFL governor Tim Walz won his bid for re-election with 52.27 percent of state votes, but if Rock County voters had their way, the next governor would have been Republican challenger Scott Jensen, who captured nearly 70 percent of Rock County votes.
Similarly, DFL incumbent Steve Simon was re-elected as Minnesota’s Secretary of State. However, Simon’s Republican challenger Kim Crockett had more than 70 percent of Rock County’s votes.
Rock County’s “red” trend continued for state attorney general and state auditor. DFL incumbent Keith Ellison was re-elected as attorney, but in Rock County, his Republican challenger Jim Schultz had 72 percent of Rock County votes. And DFL incumbent Julie Blaha was re-elected as state auditor, but 70.21 percent of Rock County voters chose Republican Ryan Wilson.
Following are official results from local contested races.
 
Luverne School Board
The Luverne School Board election drew extra attention this year with 18 candidates for five open seats.
Four were elected out of 15 candidates vying for the four-year terms on the board. They include Zach Nolz (1,173 votes, 11.27 percent), Randy Sasker (1,020 votes, 9.8 percent), Michael DeBates (913 votes, 8.77 percent) and Eric Hartman (902 votes, 8.67 percent).
Ryan DeBates was elected to fill the remaining two years of the seat vacated by Jeff Stratton who left the board to become the school resource officer. DeBates captured 1,288 votes (46.53 percent) in the three-way contest.
 
Luverne City Council
In the race for Luverne City Council’s Ward 2 seat, incumbent Kevin Aaker narrowly defeated challenger Mert Kracht by 10 votes, 377-367.
The margins were close, but not close enough to trigger an automatic recount. The difference needs to be less than one-half of one percent.  In this case, the difference was 1.34 percent.
 
Minnesota House
In the contest between two Luverne candidates for Minnesota’s District 21A House seat, Republican incumbent Joe Schomacker beat D-FL challenger Pat Baustian with 74.29 percent of the votes (13,536). Baustian garnered 25.64 percent (4,671).
 
Hills and Beaver Creek city council races
The Hills City Council election had five candidates vying for two open seats. Newcomer Cory Metzger garnered the most votes, 171 and 30.11 percent, with incumbent Vickie Busswitz keeping her seat with 149 votes and 26.23 percent.
Four people filed for two open seats on the Beaver Creek City Council. Council members Jeff Dysthe and Pat Bender did not file for re-election, and Heidi Freese (89 votes, 36.93 percent) and Jacob Conger (78 votes, 32.37 percent) were elected to replace them.
For more complete 2022 election results, see the Minnesota Secretary of State website, sos.state.mn.us. Click on elections and 2022 results.

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