Bismarck, North Dakota News

Republican candidate for insurance commissioner Adam Hamm appeared to be victorious this morning, defeating his Democratic-NPL opponent Jasper Schneider by 1,781 votes.

In one of the tightest races from Tuesday night, Hamm took 50.3 percent of the vote, according to the unofficial election tallies listed by the secretary of state. Schneider took 49.7 percent with 299,639 voters casting a ballot.

If the numbers hold, meaning the margin of victory would be too high to warrant an automatic recount, Schneider said he would not demand one.

"We don't want to concede anything until the final numbers are certified by the canvass board," Schneider said. "But assuming they hold up, I congratulate Commissioner Hamm on his victory and I look forward to working with him in the Legislature on the issues that we both care so much about."

A candidate can demand a recount if the margin of victory is less than 2 percent. The state will perform an automatic recount if the margin of victory is .5 percent or less.

The vote canvassing board will meet Nov. 18 to make the election results official, said Secretary of State Al Jaeger.

Jaeger also said absentee ballots are still being counted around the state.

Hamm has already spent a year in the insurance commissioner post after Gov. John Hoeven appointed him in October 2007. Hamm replaced Jim Poolman, who resigned.

Hamm is a former Cass County prosecutor and trial lawyer from Fargo.

"My focus is now on the future, not the past," Hamm said of the election. "The campaign's over." 

Schneider also is a Fargo attorney who also serves as a representative in the state Legislature. He was elected in 2006 and will return to the Legislature for the 2009 session.

He said he would continue to focus on the issues he campaigned on during his nearly year-long bid for the insurance commissioner, including expanding health insurance to children and reforming Workforce Safety and Insurance.

Hamm’s first year in office has included three rate increase denials for the state's largest insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and dealing with the aftermath of the Northwood tornado.

Schneider criticized Hamm throughout the campaign for what he called politically motivated decisions, including the Blues rate increase denials. Hamm also came under scrutiny when he premiered a public service announcement about 100 days before the election that Schneider and other critics said looked like a campaign commercial.

Both candidates agree that WSI needs to be reformed and that the governor should have the ability to hire or fire the department’s director.

Hamm and Schneider also said they want to see more insurance companies in the state to compete with the Blues.

(Reach reporter Brian Duggan at 223-8482 or brian.duggan@bismarcktribune.com)

The insurance commissioner race came down to the wire, with Hamm finally pulling ahead this morning after Mercer County reported its vote tally.

Election workers in Mercer County worked through the night to make sure their ballots had been counted correctly, leading to the delayed results for the insurance commissioner race, said Mercer County Auditor Monte Erhardt.

"We didn’t want to rush through and report results that were inaccurate," Erhardt said."We were able to reconcile those poll books satisfactorily."

Jaeger said election workers in Mercer County didn't begin counting absentee ballots until after the polls closed at 7 p.m. Tuesday.