Mayor Paul TenHaken, Sioux Falls await resolution to historic election

Already serving extra time in City Hall, TenHaken resigned to staying in office until near-tie election resolved

Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken had a vision for how June 24 would unfold. He’d invite the winner of the June 23 mayoral runoff to lunch, and after lunch, he would brief either Jamie Smith or Christine Erickson on everything he or she needed to know about what was happening in city government.

Then, on July 17, he would hand off the baton to either Erickson or Smith at a swearing-in ceremony and ride off into the private sector – and vacation.

But those plans unraveled after the runoff ended with Erickson clinging to a tenuous two-vote lead after 35,558 ballots had been tallied. The finish left Erickson and Smith tied at 49.91 percent of the vote.