It's official--May 1st municipal electric utility referendum has failed--this time by three votes

The three-person board set up to handle a recount of the votes cast in the May 1st municipal electric utility referendum met for around three hours Friday morning at the Winneshiek County Courthouse to recount the ballots.

The final referendum results are:

Yes – 1,382
No – 1,385

The recount board ruled that two ballots originally recorded as an "undervote" and an "overvote" were cast by voters who intended to cast a "yes" vote.  That increased the "yes" total by two from Monday's canvass of votes--but it was not enough to change the outcome of the referendum.