Ask The Answer Person: A local election result, explained

John e-mails: "The Winneshiek County election results say: 'Brenda Kreitzer was elected as County Treasurer TFV.' What does 'TFV' mean?"

The Answer Person says: "As often happens, we didn't know the answer to a reader question.  But we did know who would know the answer!  So we contacted County Auditor Ben Steines, who is in charge locally of election results.  Here's his answer: 'That stands for "To Fill a Vacancy".  So she wasn't elected to a four-year term, just to the remainder of the term vacated by the previous treasurer.  She will be up for election again in 2022.'

Now that Ben Steines has explained this notation, The Answer Person has also seen the abbreviation on the results of several township elections, as well."