With 2,715 votes for the tax levy and 2,705 against the tax levy, Montgomery County Board of Elections director Jeff Rezabek said the county is still waiting to count provisional ballots and remaining absentee ballots that arrive by Saturday. One additional vote yes came from part of Huber Heights in Greene County.
“Those are the unofficial results,” he said. “We begin the process of checking on the provisionals, if there are any provisionals.”
Rezabek said about 200 provisional ballots are in Montgomery County, though it’s not clear how many of those are from Huber Heights. It’s unlikely to be all 200, Rezabek said, and those ballots are likely to be as split as the current votes, based on past trends.
Recounts in Ohio happen with results within 0.5%. According to Rezabek’s calculations, the Huber Heights school levy will need to be within 28 votes to head to a recount.
“We believe there’ll be a recount because we start looking at some trends there,” Rezabek said. “If the regular vote was 50-50, like in this case, we would believe that’s how the provisionals would generally come in.”
Some of those provisional ballots will need to be “cured.” For example, if the voter forgot an ID, they will need to bring their ID to the Board of Elections office by Saturday or the vote can’t be counted.
But if the voter was registered elsewhere in Ohio and recently moved to Huber Heights and had their ID, the county has to check the same voter didn’t vote elsewhere.
Final numbers will be provided on May 21, which is the date for certification, Rezabek said. Five days later is the recount, and then an audit would occur after that.
The public is invited to the recount, Rezabek said, and once that’s done, the count is final, with another process for challenging if need be.
But Rezabek said the overall election day ran smoothly and there were no reported problems.
“I think the public would be proud to see how their fellow citizens helped us run a very smooth and good election,” he said. “And we’re very confident in the results.”
Huber Heights school superintendent Jason Enix said election night was a “roller coaster,” but noted the vote was incredibly close and there were still additional ballots coming in.
“It’s good news for now, and we will anxiously await everything being certified,” he said.
About the Author
