Spring Lake Park mayor wins tied race by drawing. Challenger seeks recount
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After 2,802 votes, Spring Lake Park's mayoral election came down to a film canister pulled from a bag Monday night.
Incumbent Robert Nelson, who has served as mayor since 2019 and previously held the office beginning in 2006, defeated challenger Halyn Roth after the city pulled his name out of a film canister during a City Council meeting at city hall.
The small north metro city's mayoral race ended in a draw between Nelson and Roth. Each candidate received exactly 1,401 votes.
Under state law, a city’s canvassing board must break an election tie by drawing lots. To ensure a fair drawing, the city placed each candidate’s name in a film canister so the two entries would feel identical.
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Minutes after Nelson’s name was drawn from the bag, Roth submitted a recount request to the city administrator.
“I mean, it was fair as far as it could be; I can't imagine any other way that we could have done it,” Roth said. “I know there's a lot of folks who are frustrated by this process, and all I can say is if you want it to change, call your state legislators and ask them to change it.”
Though Nelson won, he believes the tie-breaker process is “flawed.”
“Just seems like it's something from the 1800s, and now we're in 2026, so I just feel there's room for improvement, but I have not a clue which way that'd go,” Nelson said. “I just take care of 7,000 people, not 5 million or whatever's in the state.”
However, Spring Lake Park City Administrator Daniel Buchholtz believes the process is fair.
The recount is scheduled for Nov. 17 at 9 a.m. at the Anoka County Courthouse, and Buchholtz said the public can attend. Buchholtz said holding another election would delay the outcome until February because state law requires 46 days of absentee voting before an election, including an 18-day early voting period.
“I think it's a process that the legislature took a lot of time studying and coming up with. I know some people would rather have us do a revote, but doing a revote is really expensive,” Buchholtz said. “It takes a lot of time because you have to essentially run another election.”
Buchholtz estimated that another election would cost the city about $30,000.
