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In researching the precinct-specific data from the election day voting results for Chisago County,  one is left with no doubt the region is heavily Republican;  even to the point of nearly zero support for Minnesota’s incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar.  

Only two of 25 county precincts gave Amy Klobuchar more votes than challenger Royce White. These were Center City and Taylors Falls.  The rest of the state returned her to D.C.

Chisago County Auditor-Treasurer Bridgitte Konrad reported the turnout was calculated at 90.72 percent.  This equates to 35,724 voters out of 39,386, plus there were 2,859 election day registrations.  Election staff and site workers were not only busy with this last minute registration upkeep,  but in the days ahead of “game day” the county had 12,077 votes submitted outside of their regular polling places. The highest absentee voting tally was in Chisago City Precinct B. 

While the voters in Chisago County went straight down the ballot along party lines,  even if this meant  a vote for a newcomer; oddly— when it came to local elections— the 35,724 county voters hung onto the incumbents.  

The Chisago Lakes School Board races stood out for its three winning incumbents. The fourth and least vote-getter was a candidate who carried a partisan endorsement, which turned out to be a move school board voters rejected.  

North Branch School Board had three incumbents  returned who faced no competition.

The environmental fund,  lottery money extension authorization was interesting for its rejection of the local partisan approach.  

The state went 77.6 percent in favor of the dedicated lottery revenue extension, and the measure only required a 50 percent vote, so it is considered approved for another 25 years.  

But, in Chisago County where the Republican Party website devoted a full main page to the GOP campaign to vote no; Chisago County precincts went ‘yes’ hitting the 60 percentile in most cases.  The county as a whole cast 70.87 percent yes votes.    Rush City, Lindstrom, Taylors Falls and Center City led the county precincts in percentage of voters supporting the measure with 79, 76, and 74 percent yes votes respectively.

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