Spring Lake Park mayoral election headed to random drawing after tie

Spring Lake Park mayoral election headed to random drawing after tie Joey Swanson KSTP Spring Lake Park mayoral race to be decided by random drawing Spring Lake Park mayoral race to be decided by random drawing The Spring Lake Park mayoral race will be decided by chance on Monday evening after both candidates finished with the same amount of votes last week. Both candidates, incumbent Mayor Bob Nelson and challenger Halyn Roth received 1,401 votes in a race that had 13 write-in votes. PREVIOUS: Spring Lake Park mayoral race ends in tie, winner could be decided by coin flip To decide the winner, the candidates’ names will be put in a hat and whoever’s name is picked will be the winner. Whoever loses the drawing then has seven days to request a publicly funded recount. Nelson first became mayor in 2006 and again in 2019, and has been in office since. Roth has lived in Spring Lake Park since 2020 and says he is running to change transparency in the city. He shared the following statement and said that he plans to request a recount if he loses. “I’m feeling anxious but optimistic. I know that regardless of the result, we did everything we could and I am proud of what we did. I do plan on requesting a recount if I lose the drawing. My message to the community is this…neither candidate will come out winning this election with a mandate, and we need to govern as such. Whoever the winner is has to mend this divide in our city and show the community they are truly listening to their needs.” 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS also reached out to Nelson for comment but have not heard back yet.