UPDATE: Final numbers reported in Polk County primary

Polk County voters during the Minnesota Primary on Tuesday, Aug. 14 had a clear idea of the choices they want running for two seats on the Polk County Board of Commissioners up for election in November.

The primary was necessary to narrow the races in district 3, which encompasses most of Crookston, and district 5, which includes the East Grand Forks area, down to two candidates. Five candidates were seeking the district 3 seat, and three were seeking the district 5 seat.

In district 3, where incumbent Bill Montague is not seeking another term, Nick Nicholas, a Crookston School Board member who's not seeking re-election to the board, garnered the most votes by far on Tuesday, with 316. The executive at Dee, Inc. will take on the second place finisher on Tuesday, Crookston Township resident Dean Adams, who received 130 votes. Rounding out the vote totals in district 3 were Jerry Reitmeier with 73, Clayton Briggs with 72, and Ray Ecklund, with 65. Those totals include all absentee ballots cast.

“There was a lot of competition, so I’m very happy with the results,” Nicholas told the Times Wednesday. Asked if he has any theories to explain his popularity at the polls Tuesday, Nicholas said it could be his exposure as chair of the Crookston School Board in recent years, and his background in accounting and finance.

In district 5, retired East Grand Forks fire chief, Randy Gust, garnered 213 votes, five more than the 208 votes cast for Don Diedrich, the incumbent commissioner. Coming in a distant third was Ragnar Bergendahl, with 25 votes.

Cote: Things went pretty well

It was Polk County Election Official Michelle Cote's first election since taking over the position from Jerry Amiot, who retired last year. Although there were minor glitches, "overall, we made it through, thanks to great staff and a lot of patience," she said. "We didn't get out of here until 2:15 this morning.

"The whole election process from start to finish is essentially the same, whether it's a big or small one," she explained. "So it's going to take a certain amount of time no matter what."

The training of election workers is already taken care of, so that won't be needed for the General Election in November, said Cote. But testing the ballots is going to take longer because they'll have significantly more items to test. Tallying up all the ballots afterward will also likely be more time-consuming, too, due to the sheer numbers expected.

Cote said the voter turnout percentage was "a little higher" in county commissioner districts 5 and 3, where there were contested commissioner races, but ballots also trickled in from the other districts, with only the state, federal and judicial offices.