Lacey Laudenschlager, Scott Louser and Bill Irmen were the three top vote-getters, capturing the three open seats on the board with 3,094 votes, 2,748 votes, and 2,400 votes, respectively, based on incomplete and unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s website.

“I’m feeling pretty grateful to be honest. I think people can see that I am fully invested in this position, whether it’s in having four kids in Minot Public Schools, as a taxpayer and community member. I hope it was evident that I care an awful lot about the district as we move forward, so I think that was maybe what made the difference,” said Laudenschlager.

“I hope it was the effort I put in the campaign. I’ve visited every school and I did a little video afterwards saying what I learned at school that day. I think that made a big difference and having an idea for some of the problems we’ve got made a difference as well,” said Louser.

Laudenschalger said she was focused on getting the new Minot North High School and Central Middle School off and running.

Lacey Laudenschlager

“Secondly, of course we need to get to work on the budget. Honestly I’m looking forward to working with everyone: the other board members, the new superintendent, new assistant superintendent. I think we’ve got a really good team of people to head everything up,” Laudenschlager said.

Louser, who is also a state legislator, said that depending on the outcome of the property tax measure, he was preparing a property tax initiative in the event it doesn’t pass.

“I’ve got a property tax initiative that would have the State buying out the 60 mills required for K-12 education. That will be my signature legislation next session as a legislator if property tax elimination does not pass. That’s what I’m the most excited about because that will decrease property tax in Minot by about 25 percent,” Louser said.

Only 36 votes separated Irmen from Darrik Trudell based on the unofficial results with 2,362 votes. Irmen could not be reached for comment on election night. Trudell told The Minot Daily News he was unlikely to pursue a recount, saying he believed the results were accurate and a recount was unwarranted.

“If I’m 36 away, I needed to work just a little bit harder to get elected,” Trudell said.

Scott Louser

Michael Gessner, the lone incumbent and current school board president, received 2,137 votes, while candidates KayLee Bourquin and John Carey received 2,033 and 1,502 each. Laudenschlager and Louser both thought the relative parity between all the candidates reflected their quality, offering a plethora of options for voters to consider as they filled out their ballots.

“We had seven really great people to pick from, and I was really expecting a close race. There’s not a bad apple in the bunch, so how lucky are we?” Laudenschlager said.

“As a candidate you want to see wide margins, you want that to happen. But for the sake of the voters, regardless of the district or the race, tight races are good. That means there were qualified candidates and enough people to choose from, and that’s good for the electorate,” Louser said.