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Two vacant Sheboygan County Board seats were filled on Tuesday in rare write-in victories. WHBL News asked Sheboygan County Clerk Jon Dolson to explain the process, which seemed simple on the surface but, as we learned, comes with several catches.
First, he said, write-in votes aren’t handled like all the others because most election-night results are reported directly from the electronic tabulator tapes at the close of the polls. Write-in votes need to be tallied by the clerks in each municipality – if needed – and those tally sheets are brought to the County Clerk. Dolson added that “if needed” means that if there are enough candidate names to fill the ballot – including registered write-in candidates – for instance three names for a 3-vote contest…in that case, the other, unregistered write-ins aren’t needed since enough registered candidates filled the ballot. But if not enough registered candidates, write-in or otherwise, are on the ballot, such as when two candidates are registered to fill three positions, then all write-ins are tallied.
Many results didn’t come into Dolson’s office until Wednesday due to poor election-night weather, which is allowed up to a 4 p.m. deadline. Then the results can be tallied, but they remain unofficial for the time being. Dolson was, however, able to provide that preliminary count.
For County Board District 15, Loe Liebau garnered 190 votes, with the next closest candidate being Theodore Gumieny with 18.
For County Board District 19, Jacob Immel is the unofficial winner with 64 votes, with second place going to Robert Duffner’s 9 votes.
All results, write-in or otherwise, become official only during the County Board of Canvassers meeting next Tuesday.
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