Shawn Mason will return for a second term as International Falls mayor, defeating newcomer Allen Kruse Tuesday.
Mason won reelection with 1,866 votes to Kruse’s 1,052 votes. Twelve write-in votes were cast in the mayoral race.
Incumbent Falls Councilor Cynthia Jaksa was unchallenged for the West Ward seat she was appointed to earlier this year. She’s filling out an expired term left with the resignation of Kelly Meyers. Jaksa got 982 votes Tuesday. Eight write-in votes were cast.

Until little more than a week ago, the Ranier election was a quiet race with an uncontested candidate for mayor and three candidates running for two council seats.
A last minute write-in campaign for the reelection of current Ranier Mayor Ed Oerichbauer and Trustee Dan Klocek turned the town on its ear about what was at stake that became so suddenly important.
Oerichbauer was reelected mayor with 62 votes, defeating Edmund Woods Jr. with 34 votes.
There were two open trustee seats on the Ranier City Council.

A newcomer is filling the Commissioner District 3 seat on the Koochiching County Board while an incumbent will continue for another four years in the Commissioner District 5 seat.
In District 3, Brian McBride received 720 votes and Paul Eklund received 419 votes.
In District 5, Mike Hanson received 1,087 votes and Louis Kurhais received 176 votes. Write-in candidates received seven votes.

Newcomers and incumbents will fill the Falls School Board in January.
Filling the three 4-year term seats will newcomer Stuart Nordquist, who received 2,787 votes; incumbent Mark Lassila, who received 2,236 votes; and incumbent Michelle Hebner, who received 2,021 votes.
Other candidates included incumbent Robin Baumchen, who received 1,854 votes; newcomer Sherri Owen, who received 1,655 votes; and newcomer Della Warren, who received 1,107 votes. Write-in candidates received 50 votes.

Voter turnout in Koochiching County
A majority of registered voters turned out to the polls in Koochiching County Tuesday. Of the total of 7,671 voters registered by 7 a.m. Tuesday when polls opened, 6,820 voted, or about 89 percent, according to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office Web site.

How Koochiching County voted

Democrats Jim Oberstar, Keith Ellison, Collin Peterson and Betty McCollum all easily won re-election Tuesday.
Oberstar told The Journal late Tuesday night that he was confidant Democrats would pick up the 10-15 seats in the U.S. House and gain a working majority in the U.S. Senate, which he said would end the ability to filibuster and cut the “anonymous hold on legisition, so we can move the country in a direction the people want.
“But the real key to the future is an Obama presidency,” Oberstar said of president-elect Barack Obama.

Second graders in Jill Katrin’s class at West End Elementary were asked to write sentences about what they would do if they were the president of the United States.

To the editor,
Don’t accuse our lady editor of bias in reporting. On the contrary, our Daily Journal is doing a superb job of neutral news presentation. When some columnist refers to someone like me as “lunatic liberal’, it ticks me off and when my liberal views offend some die hard conservatives, it ticks them off and in my view it is proof enough that The Journal is doing its job.

Minnesota voters, like voters in many other states, swarmed to the polls Tuesday in numbers that set a new record for state voter turnout.
The high voter turnout across the nation emphasizes the interest in local, state and national races. Many of the people who helped set voter turnout records were first-time voters prompted to go to the polls by specific issues.
The record turnout exceeded 3 million, which represents about 80 percent of the state’s eligible voters, and retains Minnesota’s No. 1 ranking across the nation.

Girls swimming
The Falls junior varsity girls swimming and diving team finished fourth overall Saturday with 325.5 points in the Little Giant Invitational.
In relays, the 200-yard freestyle foursome of Rachel Adams, Morgan Bruess, Laura Rognerud and Therese Youso finished first in 1 minute, 55.49 seconds, while the same group finished third in the 400 freestyle (4:22.81).
Bruess, Ashley Hasbargen, Rognerud and Adams finished second in the 200 medley (2:09.94).