Pine County Board Chair Josh Mohr wants the State of Minnesota to do more after two special elections cost the county $18,000.
During last Saturday's Pine County Township officers meeting, Commissioner Mohr said that $12,000 were spent on ballots alone, and many cities in the counties paid an additional $1000 to hold the elections.
The hefty price tag is one of multiple issues that occurred during the two special elections. Many mail-in ballots weren’t county during the January primary election due to short turn around times.
The special elections occurred after Gov. Walz appointed Tony Lourey as Commissioner of Department of Human Services. Jason Rarick won the election to fill his seat in the State Senate which caused a second special election to fill his seat in the House of Representatives.
Commissioner Mohr said he would like the state to create a better way to handle special elections in the future.
Photograph courtesy of Paul Raymond.