Election day took place yesterday, with ballots being cast for four city positions, and two ballot measures. The turnout produced close races in Le Mars, with two races coming to just within votes of each other.
It appears there will be 2 runoff elections for both the at large City Council seat and Mayoral race. For the at large race, Derek Conyers currently leads with 1,107 votes, with Beth Meyer coming in second with 780 and Lenny Flack in third at 777. However no candidate reached a 50% majority of the total votes in the 3 way race so a runoff between the first and second place vote getter is needed. In the mayoral race, Rob Bixenman gained 1,291 votes to challenger Brian Hughes 1,209. Bixenman, however, was also not able to secure a simple majority of the vote due to the large number of write-in votes. The city runoff election will be held Dec 2nd.
In Ward 1, Brian Bruns won reelection decisively against Jaqueline Perez, winning 658 votes against Perez’s 281 votes. In Ward 3, 7 votes were the margin between incumbent Mark Sturgeon and challenger Dan Dembinski, as Sturgeon won 296 to 289.
The ballot issues, compared to the city positions, were more decisive with their results. Public Measure RY, asking to raise the city hotel/motel tax, passed with 66% of the vote, gaining 1,793 Yes votes to 916 No votes. Public Measure RY, asking for a new bond to fund a new firehouse, failed to pass with only 30% of the vote, gaining 844 Yes votes to 1,912 No votes.
Votes will need to be canvassed, and these are unofficial results. For a full list of Plymouth County election results, click here.
