Ohio County Boards of Elections finalized its post-election audit of the November 2022 general election. According to Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, the general election resulted in several exceptionally close votes and eight races resulted in either a tie or were decided by two votes or fewer.
According to Larose, these tight races once again prove “that every vote matters.”
The following counties required issues to be recounted:
Adams County: Peebles Village – Local Option/Sunday Sales/1st Stop, Inc. Yes 250 No 248
To allow the sale of beer, wine and mixed beverages be permitted for sale on Sunday by 1ST STOP, INC. dba PEEBLES 1ST STOP #85, an applicant for a D-6 liquor permit, who is engaged in the business of operating a convenience store at 156 North Main Street, Peebles, Ohio 45660 in this precinct.
Champaign County: Mechanicsburg Street Tax Levy Yes 227 No 225
This measure sought to add to the current street levy which by a rate of $.30 per $100 of assessed property value for a further three years in order to continue to pay for construction and repair costs of streets, roads and bridges in the village.
Columbiana County: Wellsville Police Tax Levy Yes 346 No 344
The levy is for the purpose of providing for, maintaining and operating the village police department and for maintaining vehicles, communications, building and other equipment, salaries of department personnel, including payment of the village’s contribution towards pensions.
Greene County: Xenia CCSD, Renewal 5.62 Yes 6295 No 6296
Operating levy to provide critical funding to support day-to-day learning in their classrooms, an We are, of course, disappointed by this outcome, but heartened by the support of so many of you. Overall, I know that uncertainty about the outcome of the levy more than one month after election day has been stressful and confusing for our school staff and families, especially given the unusual circumstances of the certification.
“We are, of course, disappointed by this outcome, but heartened by the support of so many of you. Overall, I know that uncertainty about the outcome of the levy more than one month after election day has been stressful and confusing for our school staff and families, especially given the unusual circumstances of the certification. I want you to know that I feel much the same, but I do want to encourage you to trust in the sometimes-messy process that is democracy — even when it does not go the way we might have wished we will make plans to move the district forward in a positive way, regardless of this outcome,” School superintendent Gabriel Lofton said.
Noble County: County Commissioner ftc 1-1-23 Yes 2300 No 2298
Floyd Allen Fraley for the new Noble County Commissioner, beating incumbent Noble County Commissioner Bradley Peoples by a two vote margin.
Ottawa County: Put-in-Bay Township Police Protection Levy Yes 192 Yes 192
A 1.5-million, five-year additional levy for police services.
Pickaway County: New Holland Cemetery Renewal Yes 118 No 117
To authorize the Village of New Holland to renew a property tax levy of 1 mill ($1 per $1,000 of assessed valuation) for five years in order to fund current expenses.
Trumbull County: Newton Falls Charter Amendment 29-2022 Yes 672 No 670
Voters rejected three of the seven amendments and approved four— albeit one by a very slim margin. The charter amendments that voters passed deal with the emergency passage of ordinances, the length of public comments at meetings being limited to three minutes (it is 10 minutes now), vote thresholds for legislation and rules for abstentions and absences, and changes to recall election procedures. The latter passed by just 10 votes, with 663 voting in favor and 653 saying no.
The rejected charter amendments dealt with the mayor being able to override public health directives, legislation sponsorship, and removing the residency requirement for the city manager.
“A lot of what the charter amendments were for was to clean up wording and definitions. We had meetings in the past where votes and decisions by council were questioned and the charter wasn’t very clear. The changes were to make the charter clearer,” Mayor Ken Kline said.
When LaRose took office in 2019, he directed all county boards of elections to conduct a post-election audit after every election. According to LaRose, conducting these audits guarantees Ohio has secure elections and increases voter confidence in election results. This also creates accountability for each election board to conduct accurate and honest elections. LaRose said that the results show a 99.9 percent accuracy rate.
According to the United States Election Assistance Commission, election audits ensure voting systems operate accurately, that election officials comply with regulations or internal policies, and identify and resolve discrepancies in an effort to promote voter confidence in the election administration process.
In the 2022 general election audit, Ohio boards utilized percentage-based audits to ascertain the accuracy of the results. If an automatic county-wide recount was required, the results of the recount serve as the post-election audit.
In a percentage-based audit, a board of elections selects units to be audited (precincts, polling locations, or individual machines). It selects at random sufficient units to do the certain review of 5% of the total votes cast for the county.
At least three contests are as follows: top of the ticket, statewide race selected at random by the Secretary, and at least one non-statewide race selected by the board of elections.
“Because of our dedicated bipartisan election officials, Ohio is devoid of the drama and controversy we see in other states. Another important reason Ohioans know that they can trust our elections is because every election is audited by bipartisan teams of election professionals in our county boards, and the results prove definitively that our elections are run openly, accurately and honestly,” LaRose said.
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Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Election” by Edmond Dantès.
