Vada Aikins can celebrate her “Dewey Defeats Truman” moment.
Aikins, a member of the Humboldt City Council, edged challenger Richard Weilert 113 votes to 111 in Tuesday’s council election.
The tally changed when Allen County commissioners canvassed the election results this morning and considered five provisional ballots.
A provisional ballot is one in which a voter’s name does not appear on registration sheets at the polling place.
Wednesday’s Register re-ported that Weilert was leading 110 votes to 109 after Tuesday.
The adjoining headline “Weilert wins nail-biter” was proven to be inaccurate as County Clerk Sherrie Riebel began looking at write-in ballots.
One of the ballots had Aikins’ name written.
“We consider voter intent, so it counted,” Riebel said.
The 110-110 tie was broken this morning, when commissioners determined that three of the five provisional ballots were to be added to Aikins’ tally. Weilert gained only one vote.
Aikins holds the council’s Ward 2, Position 1 seat.
No other races were affected by consideration of provisional ballots.
Wayne Smith also was declared the winner for the Humboldt council’s Ward 1, Position 1.
He received 35 write-in votes, Riebel said. Geraldine Lucke received 13 write-in votes, while three others received one vote apiece.
Smith replaces Sean McReynolds on the council. McReynolds declined to file for re-election, and no candidates filed before the January deadline.
Aikins declared winner
