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