In the race for school board, five became three after election night as incumbents Jill Marin and Mark Ciota and newcomer Dave Klatt were elected.

Ciota received the most votes with 5,499. Marin and Klatt were separated by less than 10 votes: Marin got 5,188 and Klatt got 5,175.

The number of votes dropped off significantly between the three elected to the board and the two not elected to the board.

Kendall Langseth got 2,975 votes. A little over 20 votes behind was Heather Sadauskis with 2,954 votes.

Marin said she is really excited she was elected to the board for her third term, and said there is a lot to do in her upcoming term.

She said she looks forward to working hard for the Albert Lea community.

Marin thanked the other candidates for throwing their hats in the ring and also thanked those who voted for her.

“I wanted to thank the voters for putting their trust in me for another term,” she said, “and I look forward to serving them again for this term.”

Klatt also congratulated the other candidates who ran and said there were five really good candidates this time.

He said this race is the type of race he’d want to run for any kind of board or seat as the campaigns were positive.

Klatt said his election is “exciting yet challenging” and said he’s looking forward to working with the rest of the board to create as many student opportunities as possible.

Ciota repeated what he said at the school board debate, saying all four of the other candidates would have served the district well.

“The students win,” he said.

This is Ciota’s second term on the school board. He said he’s interested in continuing to work on making the district the best it can be and working on student achievement.

Ciota said he’s looking forward to working with Marin again and to start working with Klatt.

While he wasn’t elected to the board, Langseth wished the school board luck as there are significant issues to deal with, he said.

Langseth said everybody running really had a desire for the education system to improve.

Sadauskis also said the five who ran were good candidates and congratulated the three winners. She thanked those who supported her.

While she didn’t win the election, Sadauskis said she wasn’t surprised and said a lot of it comes down to name recognition.

Despite that, she said the three elected will bring wonderful things to the school board.