In a special meeting lasting less than 10 minutes, the Rapid City Common Council voted to certify the results from Tuesday's municipal election.
Jason Salamun claimed 32% of voters with 4,888 votes Tuesday, topping Laura Armstrong by only 269 votes.
Regardless of the pending recount request filed by Armstrong, the city is required to canvass the votes within seven days of the election. Ward 2 Council member Bill Evans spoke during the mayoral canvass, calling the need to do so a "lame gesture."
City Attorney Joel Landeen explained the statute for a recount requires a request be made within five days of the official canvass, not the election.
"When you think about it, there's nothing to request a recount of until the vote is officially canvassed," he said. "Once you approve the canvassing, then it becomes official so that the person who is challenging it has the right to request the recount."
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Salamun and Armstrong abstained only from the mayoral canvass vote, while Ward 1 incumbent Pat Jones — who lost his seat to newcomer Dr. Josh Biberdorf — was not present. All of the remaining Council members voted unanimously to approve the results for the mayoral election and three wards who voted for Council representation. Biberdorf (Ward 1), Lindsey Seachris (Ward 2), Kevin Maher (Ward 3) and Rod Pettigrew (Ward 5) will join the Council; John Roberts (Ward 4) won reelection and abstained from the vote certifying results in his ward.
City Finance Director Daniel Ainslie will convene a recount board and must do so within 10 days of Armstrong's request, which was made Thursday, June 8. The cost of the recount will fully depend on how long it takes, according to Ainslie. That money will be paid from the city's general fund and will come out of the Finance Department's budget.
"We have estimated that if the recount takes eight hours, the cost would probably be in the range of about $2,500, but ultimately we don't know until we finish the recount and see how long it takes," Ainslie explained.
Rapid City contracts with the Pennington County Auditor's Office for the election and any recount. Membership of the recount board will consist of one person selected by Salamun, one person chosen by Armstrong, and one person appointed by City Finance Director Ainslie who is acceptable to both candidates. The recount board has not been determined at this time and no date has been set for the convening of the board.
If the results of the recount indicate that Jason Salamun received the most votes, no further action will be taken. If the recount changes the outcome of the election, the canvassing of the recounted votes will occur at a later date and will replace the previous canvassing resolution.
Questions arose from some voters regarding the legitimacy of Fountain Springs Church as a polling place, being that Salamun serves as chief-of-staff and executive pastor there. State law only allows candidates to be at a polling place long enough to cast their vote on election day. Pennington County Auditor Cindy Mohler told the Journal Monday polling places are chosen for a variety of factors, including availability on a Tuesday.
"We do our best to choose the polling place so that it's within the precinct, that it's handicap accessible, that it can handle the crowd and that it's got good parking," Mohler said.
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