A canvassing board will certify the results of the Ward County Commission race Tuesday, at which time more will be known about a possible recount for the hotly contested third and final seat between Shelly Weppler and Jim Lee.
Ward County auditor/treasurer Devra Smestad said the canvassing board will look at late-arriving ballots and determine whether they should be counted toward the final vote.
"We have canvassing next Tuesday, and any of the ballots that we've received in the mail between now and then that are postmarked on or before the 5th can be possibly added to the count."
Smestad said there were also some ballots the canvassing board had questions on, and those will be dealt with on Tuesday as well.
"We have several ballots to go before the count is actually official and certified," Smestad said.
Once the counting is done, Smestad said an automatic recount will occur if there is a difference of 0.5 percent or less between the competing candidates. If the difference is between 0.5 and 2 percent, a candidate may request a recount but has to post a bond covering its cost.
The unofficial results have former Minot public works director Alan Walter leading the vote with 14,962, followed by incumbent Jack Nybakken with 13,330, with Shelly Weppler taking the final seat with 11,130. Former commissioner Jim Lee is only 74 votes behind Weppler with 11,056, while incumbent Bruce I. Christianson garnered 9,432.