Hand count Friday will decide two St. Paul City Council elections

St. Paul will find out Friday who won the First and Sixth Ward City Council elections after a hand count of ranked-choice votes.

No candidate in those races reached the threshold of first-place votes that would win the seat outright. So Ramsey County elections staff will convene Friday to count ballots by hand and reallocate lower-ranked votes until a candidate in each race reaches the threshold of 50% plus one vote, according to interim Ramsey County elections manager David Triplett.

In the First Ward race, incumbent Dai Thao won 42% of the first-choice votes, ahead of Anika Bowie, who had 30%, according to unofficial results reported by the Minnesota Secretary of State.

Liz De La Torre had 19%, while Abu Nayeem "Frogtown Crusader" (as his name appeared on the ballot) had 8%.

For the open seat in the Sixth Ward, Nelsie Yang led with 44% of first-choice votes, while Terri Thao had 28%. None of the other four candidates finished above 12% in first-choice votes.

The hand count will take place at 90 Plato Blvd. W., St. Paul, starting at 8:30 a.m. and continuing until winners are determined.

Staff Report