Write-in candidate wins Minnesota mayoral race ... but which one?
BIRCHWOOD VILLAGE, Minn. – The next mayor of Birchwood Village appears to be a write-in candidate who launched her campaign just weeks ago.
With the votes counted, the Minnesota Secretary of State's Office reports that in the town that's adjacent to White Bear Lake, 270 write-in votes were tallied for the write-in candidate.
That's compared to 171 votes for James Nelson and 148 for Michael McKenzie.
Although the report doesn't specify who the write-in candidate is, Margaret Ford has been running for mayor since late September.
"I believe all the preliminary results show that I may have won [laughs]!" said Ford Wednesday evening. "I am very excited and grateful to all the people who helped and to the people who voted for me and are entrusting me to lead the community."
Ford is currently in the state of Virginia, celebrating the birth of her new granddaughter. She says family is everything to her. It was potential health issues for a family member that kept her from declaring as a candidate earlier this year.
"Those were resolved thankfully, and so I was encouraged again and I thought, 'We'll, let's do it,'" Ford said.
She then launched a write-in campaign with the help of outgoing mayor Mary Wingfield.
"I don't know what the odds are [laughs], except it's 100% in this town," Wingfield said. "We said, 'You know what? If we get after it and show everybody we can flood the zone, we can show people this is serious, we've got the support of the broader sense of the community, they won't be wasting their vote. Because that was the only concern we heard when we first put out a press release. Once we flooded the zone and people knew who she was, it became just a momentum, we just steamrolled it."
The campaign launched in late September, just weeks before Election Day.
"It was definitely a hundred-yard dash and it was all hands on deck," Ford said. "I was hopeful that I would win but I do understand that a write-in campaign is a difficult thing to do. So I was elated. I was very happy."
The fact that a write-in candidate could win wasn't a surprise to anyone in Birchwood Village.
"It's kind of fitting for our little city, I think. Like, word of mouth is very prevalent here," said resident Michelle Dupey. "I think it's great. I think that it means that people can see other people besides the two that are running, like there are other options. And if someone like Margaret wanted to go out there and fight and run and do all of that for our community, that says something that we would choose someone outside of the ballot"
"I don't see why any small town can't do this. I think on a bigger level, it's probably logistically hard," Wingfield said. "But when you know your neighbors and everybody can, you know, walk down the street and say, 'Oh yeah, I know your dog, I know where you live,' anything's possible."
The Washington County Elections Services said they're working on the process of hand-counting all ballots in the race, and couldn't officially declare Ford the winner as of Wednesday morning.
It is plausible that the write-in vote was split among multiple names, which would potentially make Nelson the winner.
It's the small town network that may have led to Ford's seeming success.
"Margaret has more of the community sense and awareness that we need here in Birchwood, being so small, " Dupey said. "We know our mayor here. We're a town of 900 people and like we appreciate and know our mayor. Our mayor is involved in all of our community events. She is out walking her dog and stops and talks to you. She is at all of the community events. She makes sure she knows her residents and I feel like Margaret's kinda going to be the same way."
Ford called it "Democracy in action."
"There is that part on the ballot that allows for a write-in and I think there's a reason for it. And that if someone is excited to do the job and enough people want to mobilize behind that person, it's a thing that can be possible," Ford said. "It's not an easy process, but I think it was a successful exercise of the democratic process."
The results will officially be canvassed at village hall next Tuesday, and if she is indeed the winner, Ford will take over as mayor at the first Birchwood Village council meeting in January.