"Vote Yes" group will request a recount

Following Monday's announcement that only one absentee ballot from the May 1st municipal electric utility referendum has been received, Decorah Power spokesperson Emily Neal says her organization will request a recount of votes.

Neal said while it's not likely the recount will produce a different result, "Whenever there's an election this close, it's just good practice (to hold a recount)."

Decorah Power has three days to file such a request with the County Auditor's Office.  There will be a three-person committee which conducts the recount--one person appointed by Decorah Power, one person appointed by the County Auditor's Office and the third person agreed upon by the two other recount committee members.  Since all three recount committee members will be unpaid volunteers, there is little to no cost to the recount.

The recount committee can rerun the electronic voting machine totals or do a hand recount, or some combination of the two approaches.  County Auditor Ben Steines seconded Neal's opinion that the recount would be unlikely to produce a different result, saying, "I have a lot of confidence in our (voting) machines."