Osakis school election comes down to cards

• Luck of the draw

Greta Petrich | Echo Press Because of a tie for the third open seat on the Osakis School Board, the race came down to the draw of a card. Aimee Goodwin (right) drew the highest card, a 9 of hearts, while Monica Klimek (left) held a 7 of clubs. Beforehand, both agreed that the one who lost would request a recount. If the tie holds, Goodwin will win.

Talk about it

The fate of Osakis school board hopefuls Monica Klimek and Aimee Goodwin came down to luck of the draw, although the answer isn’t certain yet.

The two newcomers tied for third place in the school board election with 591 votes each, requiring a tiebreaker.

Board clerk Shari Maloney opened a sealed deck of cards and spread them out on a table at the board’s regular meeting November 8. Each candidate picked a card with Klimek showing a 7 of clubs and Goodwin revealing a 9 of hearts.

Immediately after looking at their cards, Klimek said the two had spoke before the meeting and agreed it made sense to request a recount. She plans to follow procedure to make the request in writing to the clerk.

If the recount still results in a tie, Goodwin will prevail.

Incumbents Tom Grundman (18.04 percent) and Steve Hilde (15.64 percent) retained their seats followed by challengers Goodwin and Klimek each receiving 14.31 percent of the votes.

Dave Carlson, who was rerunning for his position, came in 5th with 10.82 percent of the votes.

After contacting both the Secretary of State’s office and Minnesota School Board Association after the election, Superintendent Gregg Allen was told the canvassing board (school board) must make a decision by way of lot.

Final election results were: Tom Grundman – 745, Steve Hilde – 646, Aimee Goodwin – 591 (tie), Monica Klimek – 591 (tie), Dave Carlson – 447, Craig Cody – 396, Melissa Engfer – 377, Genny LeBrun – 332, Write in – 5.

Breakdown

With eight people running for the three positions, voters had some big decisions to make and not all precincts agreed.

Tom Grundman carried both wards of the city of Osakis (17.78 percent in Douglas and 17.68 percent in Todd), Osakis Township (18.66 percent) and Leslie Township (20.38 percent).

Steve Hilde received the most votes in Gordon (18.52 percent), Little Sauk (23.16 percent) and West Union (18.24 percent) townships.

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