Lynn Eaton Wins Bemidji Ward 5 Special Election

Lynn Eaton
Lynn Eaton has won a place on the Bemidji City Council following Tuesday night’s special election.
Eaton will fill the Ward 5 seat that was previously held by Nancy Erickson, who announced her resignation from the council last September.
In order to win a seat on the council, someone would have needed to receive more than 50% of the vote. If no candidate tallied more than 50%, then a runoff election would have taken place between the top-two vote-getters. Eaton was the top vote-getter with 134 total votes, which is 52.96% of the vote total, enough to win the seat on the council.
Bill Batchelder was Eaton’s main competition. He finished with 91 votes, or about 35.97% of the tally.
Breaking down the numbers even further between the top-two vote-getters, Eaton topped Batchelder 51-31 in absentee ballots and 83-60 in Election Day ballots.
Results for all candidates are as follows:
- Lynn Eaton – 134
- Bill Batchelder – 91
- Kevin Campbell – 1
- Micaiah Graham – 5
- Don Heinonen – 21
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