Wednesday August 20, 2014
St. Cloud School board candidates Scott Andreasen and Hassan Abdullahi Yussef talk while officials recount ballots at the Stearns County Administration Center Tuesday. At the lunch break, Andreasen was leading Yussef by two votes.
St. Cloud school board candidate Hassan Abdullahi Yussuf has won a recount of Tuesday's primary — by one vote.The St. Cloud school board candidate had a team of volunteers at the Stearns County Administration Center where candidate Scott Andreasen's four-vote lead was recounted Tuesday.
Andreasen and Yussuf were the bottom two finishers in a vote last week that would eliminate one of seven candidates. The top six candidates will compete for three school board seats in the Nov. 4 election.
Yussuf remained among the six to advance as the polls closed Aug. 12, but a Sherburne County official alerted district employee Chris Hatch to a misreported vote total the next morning. That change flipped Yussuf from sixth place to seventh, still by a thin margin.
The margin of votes determines who pays for the recount and with a difference of just four votes the school district will pick up the cost. School district staff and county employees waded through boxes of ballots and recounted every one.
The only cost to the district, according to Januszewski, was staff time and lunch.
District business director Kevin Januszewski announced the final count, which is unofficial until canvassed by the school board later this week, and Yussuf came out ahead.
Yussuf finished with 1,317 votes, the same number he entered the day with while Andreasen's total fell from 1,321 votes to 1,316 votes.
Andreasen could contest parts of the election process but not the vote total results of the recount, according to Stearns County election official Dave Walz.
The candidates in the Nov. 4 election will be incumbents Bruce Mohs, Peter Hamerlinck and Jerry Von Korff, former board member Bruce Hentges, and newcomers Yussuf and Michael Conway.
Andreasen owns Scott Investigation and Scott Andreasen Liberty Bail Bond. Yussuf is a tax preparer and president of Elders Council of Central Minnesota.
Yussuf said he was happy with the results and thankful to his supporters. Andreasen said he was also thankful for his supporters.