Minutes - 1979/12/05 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page 2 December 5, 1979 Pursuant to the Minnesota Statutes 410.11 a Charter proposition to be considered adopted must pass by 51% of the votes cast on the proposition. A determination was made by the Clerk Administrator that the proposition passed. The City Attorney advised that a determination of the undervotes should be made. The City's Finance Director explained the undervote to some detail to the Canvassing Board. The City Attorney said when deter- mining what duties the Council as the Canvassing Board had included the authority to correct obvious errors. Certification of the elections results by the Canvassing Board commences the timing for an election contest. The issues before the Canvassing Board are; (1) Whether or not to exclude or include the Seven (7) "undervotes" to determine the election results. (2) The Canvassing Board must then certify the election results. Mayor McCarty moved that the seven undervotes be excluded from the election results since they were not votes cast on the proposition. The definition of an undervote as described by the Secretary of State's office in its regulations was taken into consideration. Councilmember Forslund seconded the motion. 4 ayes 0 nays The City Attorney advised that legal precedent has held that blank ballots and defective ballots would not be counted as votes cast on the proposition. Previous court decisions, the statutes and attorney general's opinions have indicated that blank ballots and possible defective ballots do not count in determination of the percentage needed for passage of an issue. Forslund moved to accept the results of the December 4, 1979, Charter proposition which was adopted by 1,031 yes, 985 no, for a total votes cast of 2,016 votes. The proposition passes by 51.14% in favor of the proposed Charter. Ziebarth seconded the motion which carried.