By ALEXANDER SIMONE

Staff writer

Canvassing at the county commission Monday slightly raised Gov. Jeff Colyer’s lead over Chris Kobach in Marion County, a day before Colyer conceded the statewide race to Kobach.

Between advance ballots counted on Friday and provisional ones counted Monday, Coyler gained 19 votes to Kobach’s 15.

Colyer leads by 144 votes in the county, a significant number considering he led by less than 200 after last week’s original count.

The canvass encompassed the first two hours of the meeting, with county clerk Tina Spencer leading the count.

Counting by hand is necessary if the ballots are unreadable or there is conflicting information.

According to Spencer, this can happen if the voter chooses a ballot that does not match their party, changes addresses, or changes names.

The commission also decided to rock a 1.4-mile section of Upland Rd. in Centre.

According to road and bridge supervisor Jesse Hamm, putting more rocks down will allow buses to take a more direct route dropping children off from school.

County commission chairman Dianne Novak expressed her sympathy for the students.

“I know it’s easier on the kids too, if they don’t have to spend all this extra time taking the bus around,” Novak said.

Novak and commsissioner Kent Becker passed the decision unanimously. Commissioner Roger Dallke was not present.

The recently paved 330th Rd. was another topic of concern. After less than a year, cracks are already developing.

This is a major concern because the cracks are in line with the road, instead of horizontal, which indicates problems with the base, Hamm said.

“Just driving it, you’re not going to see it,” he said. “If you get out and walk it, there’s a bunch of them.”

Since the new surface is under a year old, Bergkamp Construction could repair the road under warrantee.

A standardized charter was passed unanimously, which exempting area schools from having to conduct annual sanitary tests.