Wearing masks and socially distanced, residents visited Hutchinson City Center Monday, Nov. 2, on the final day of early voting ahead of Election Day.
As votes around the country continued to be counted this week, two things were clear: A record-setting 160 million Americans turned out to vote in the 2020 election, and Minnesota once again led the way with an estimated 79.3 percent voter turnout, according to the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, this election will also be remembered as the year of absentee and mail voting. In Minnesota, out of an estimated 3,268,588 total voters, about 56.4 percent — or 1,846,668 — cast absentee ballots.
McLeod County met or exceeded those statewide trends as an estimated 21,024 registered voters — about 93 percent — cast ballots this year, and Auditor-Treasurer Connie Kurtzweg reported 11,505 absentee/mail ballots had been processed, about 54.7 percent. On Election Day alone, Kurtzweg said, about 850 ballots were delivered to or voted at her office, “which is a huge amount for my staff and I to process.”
Breaking those numbers down even further, Hutchinson’s three precincts recorded 8,672 voters, and 3,950 were absentee or mail ballots, about 45.54 percent.
Looking back at past elections, the county’s preliminary 93 percent turnout was more than the past three presidential elections. In 2016, 91.67 percent of registered voters filled out ballots, 92.26 percent in 2012, and 91.04 percent in 2008. In 2004, however, 95.25 percent of voters turned out.
While McLeod County voters showed up to the polls in large numbers like other Minnesotans, they did not necessarily cast their ballots with the majority of state voters. McLeod County predominantly voted for conservative candidates in statewide elections, of which there were only a few.
In the race between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, Biden won Minnesota by seven percentage points, but Trump won the county by an overwhelming 36 percentage points. A Republican presidential candidate hasn’t won Minnesota since Richard Nixon in 1972.
The same was true for the U.S. Senate election, in which Sen. Tina Smith won Minnesota by five points, but her challenger, Jason Lewis, won McLeod County by 32 points.
While most of the votes in McLeod County have been counted, Kurtzweg said they may not yet be finished. Despite a federal court case requiring mail-in ballots received after Nov. 3 to be segregated from those received on or before Election Day, Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon has instructed election officials to count mail-in ballots received by the original Nov. 10 deadline, so long as they are postmarked by Nov. 3.
“We are actually counting them, and we have been instructed to tabulate them, and they will be included with the results and the county canvas (on Nov. 12),” Kurtzweg said. As of Monday morning, Kurtzweg said her office had received seven mail-in ballots after Election Day.
Mayor Gary Forcier and City Council Member Chad Czmowski were re-elected, and Brandon Begnaud was elected to his first term on Hutchinson City Council.
Chad Czmowski
Gary Forcier
Brandon Begnaud
Hutchinson City Council won’t look much different than it did before the 2020 election, with the exception of one seat where the incumbent chose not to run for re-election.
Incumbent Mayor Gary Forcier and incumbent Seat 4 Council Member Chad Czmowski roundly defeated their challengers, with both earning more than 65 percent of the votes.
In the race for City Council Seat 3, where incumbent Steve Cook did not seek a second term, results were slightly closer but still definitive as Brandon Begnaud defeated former Council Member John Lofdahl by winning 58.55 percent of the votes.
Begnaud, a newcomer to the council, said he was honored and humbled to be elected, and he planned to work hard for everyone, whether they voted for him or not. He anticipates efforts to seek further state and federal resources to help Hutchinson’s businesses will be a top priority after he is sworn in.
“It’s important we work together to sustain and uplift each other as we get through this pandemic,” he said. “That unites us.”
Czmowski is one of the youngest members of the council but also one of the most experienced. He was first elected in 2008 and now earned a fourth term by defeating Jared Golde. Although this re-election was his closest compared to the past two, he still earned a healthy share of votes.
“I would just like to thank the Hutchinson voters for trusting me,” he said. “I’m looking forward to continuing what we have going on in Hutchinson right now. It’s been an exciting election.”
In addition to the city’s ongoing response to COVID-19, Czmowski highlighted construction of the city’s new police station as a big project for council members the next few years.
In the mayoral race, Forcier won a fourth straight term by defeating Morgan Baum’s pitch to become Hutchinson’s first woman mayor.
“It confirms that they like the job I’m doing,” Forcier said about the voters.
Looking ahead to the next years, Forcier said his priority will be to make sure businesses that are open stay open in Hutchinson in the face of COVID-19. It was a sentiment all winners of Hutchinson City Council elections echoed Wednesday morning.
“We’ve got to get behind them and get through this pandemic,” Forcier said.
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Voters were tasked with choosing five people to represent them on the Hutchinson School Board this year. The winning candidates were, from left, top row, Tiffany Barnard, Sara Pollmann and Michael Massmann, bottom, Erin Knudtson and Keith Kamrath.
Michael Massmann
Sara Pollmann
Keith Kamrath
Tiffany Barnard
Erin Knudtson
Update: This story was updated with comments from Tiffany Barnard.
It was a big election year for the Hutchinson Board of Education. With projected future revenue deficits and major construction projects planned for West and Park Elementary schools, the next two to four years promises to be important for the school district’s elected leadership.
With five seats open this year — three for four-year terms and two special elections for two-year terms — voters had 10 candidates to choose from, five in each race.
Winning election for a four-year term were Sara Pollmann, Michael Massmann and Tiffany Barnard. Erin Knudtson and Keith Kamrath were elected for two-year seats. Pollmann, Massmann and Knudtson are all newcomers, while Kamrath has served for 21 years, and Barnard is an incumbent due to having filled a vacated seat in October 2019.
Kamrath, who is entering his sixth term, said it was an "honor and a privilege" to be re-elected. He believes the immediate priority for the School Board will be handling the challenges imposed by COVID-19. Among those challenges is a reduction of student enrollment seen in Hutchinson and across the state, which is likely to result in less funding.
"Budgeting for next school year in the fall of 2021 will be exceptionally challenging," Kamrath said. "We're down 140 to 160 students from last year."
Kamrath had intended to retire from the School Board four years ago, but after voters approved a bond referendum to renovate Hutchinson High School he decided to run for another term to see the project to completion. After voters went on to approve a bond referendum to renovate Park Elementary and West Elementary, he decided to pursue one of the available two-year terms to see those projects to completion as well.
Pollmann, who garnered the most votes in the race for a four-year term, said she was, "excited to be part of a great group of people." She hopes to be an advocate for students and teachers.
"This is a crazy time with COVID, and it is going to mean a lot of changes," she said.
Barnard said she was encouraged by the high number of candidates who ran for School Board this year, and that she was humbled to have been selected by voters after filling a vacated seat this past year.
"It feels great to have the support for the community," she said.
Barnard said she tried not to promote herself too much, and instead hoped her work on the School Board would speak for itself.
"It's not really about me," she said "I made a hard decision early on not to do yard signs. I think the political environment was so divisive in nature that I did not want my sign thrown into a bigger political climate. It's my intent to be really nonpartisan."
Like Kamrath, she highlighted the upcoming challenge of budgeting with declining enrollment due to COVID-19. She worries the state may not be able to offer as much school aid as in the past due to the budget deficit it must tackle. She also stressed the School Board must respond well to the pandemic, and be flexible as the situation changes.
"The pandemic doesn't effect all of us the same way," Barnard said. "We need to show up for the kids. We need to get this right and rebound."
Backlash over Pollmann comments
Although the winners have not been sworn into office yet, at least two will already have to work through a disagreement following harsh words made on social media.
Days before the election, Pollmann was widely criticized for writing a Facebook post angrily denouncing supporters of President Donald Trump and Mayor Gary Forcier, claiming they were aligned with voters who “believe in white supremacy,” among other claims, after several of her yard signs were stolen.
In a response to her comments, Massmann wrote on Facebook, “This is literally why I am running against her for a position on the School Board. People on that side of the aisle seem to always respond to hate with hate. ... We cannot let people like this have a voice in educating our children."
Following the election in which the two candidates received the most votes, both felt the pre-election quarrel would not prevent them from working together on the School Board.
"That's not something I'm worried about at all," Massmann said Wednesday afternoon. "We're going to focus on serving the school district."
Massmann said he and Pollmann have had productive conversations about the district's future, and that he views the School Board as nonpartisan. He expects a key issue for the School Board to be student enrollment, and finding ways to increase it and maintain the district's finances without making cuts to teacher pay.
"Over 4,700 voters put their trust in me, and now my response has to be proving to them that they didn't cast those votes in error," he said.
Knudtson did not respond to the Leader's request for comments in this story.
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McLeod County COVID-19 cases spiked to 904 Monday morning, about a week after Hutchinson Public Schools announced middle and high school students would return to hybrid learning. The school has since moved to swiftly change to distance learning.
The total number of confirmed cases in the county was 755 a week ago, which was itself a spike of 129 cases from the prior week. McLeod County Health and Human Services Director Berit Spors said the trend was likely to continue.
"We can't tie the cases back to a large outbreak. We can't pinpoint it to an event, to a business. It's genuine community spread," Spors said Monday. "People don't know where they are getting it from."
She urged McLeod County residents to remember the safety precautions that they have heard for the past several months, and acknowledged that people are likely feeling "COVID fatigue" and long for a sense of normalcy.
"But we need to go back to the basics," Spors said. "Stay home when sick. Use physical distancing. Wear marks to keep others safe. Wash hands. Avoid gatherings even with extended family. ... Clean and disinfect those touched objects."
The county has had four confirmed deaths related to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. Spors also reported that as of Nov. 3, four county residents were hospitalized at that time and at least 615 were out of isolation.
At the Nov. 3 County Board meeting, Spors warned the county's 14-day new case rate per 10,000 residents, which the state uses to advise schools in regards to their learning model, is likely to change rapidly. New 14-day case rates are released by the state every Thursday, but they always reflect rates from two weeks prior. Schools are directed to use more cautious models — including a hybrid model with half the student body learning from home, and complete digital learning from home — as the number increases.
Three weeks ago, the county had 15.91 cases per 10,000 residents for the weeks of Oct. 4-17. Last week, that number climbed to 18.14 for the weeks of Oct. 11-24. The next count will be released Thursday.
"We are going to see a significant jump up to 34.89," Spors predicted last week. "What those numbers mean is, anything above 30 it's recommended that elementary move to hybrid, and middle and high school move to full distance learning. We are preparing and helping our schools brace for that."
RETURN TO HYBRID
Hutchinson Public Schools secondary students returned to a hybrid learning model Monday, less than two weeks after the school returned to full in-person learning Oct. 27.
An announcement sent to parents Nov. 3 said, "This transition is necessary due to the recent COVID-19 outbreaks in our community. In the past week, our student body has been impacted through gatherings outside the school day."
After press time, Hutchinson Public Schools made plans to further shift learning models. Read more here.
"It's important to remember this system was developed on flexibility and movement," Superintendent Daron VanderHeiden said last week. "When things are good, you can go in person like we were able to do for awhile. And when conditions worsen you have to switch gears."
