MANSFIELD — Bellville Mayor Darrell Banks was officially announced the Republican nomination for Richland County Commissioner after the board of elections counted provisional votes Thursday.
Unofficial results during March 15’s primary showed Banks as the winner between him and incumbent commissioner Tim Wert, with Banks receiving 8,684 votes to Wert’s 8,468, a difference of 1 percent. The final official results show Banks with 8,799 votes and Wert with 8,578.
“It feels pretty good, feels real good,” Banks said after Thursday’s meeting. “It was a long two weeks waiting.”
Banks will face Democratic opponent Ron Davis in November’s general election. Banks said he has already started meeting with his campaign committee as he expects a tough race.
“We know it’s going to be a tough race in the fall. But just like we did in the primary, we’re going to work very hard to make this happen in a positive note in November,” he said.
During Thursday’s meeting, Board of Elections Director Paulette Hankins said a total of 647 provisionals were added to the official count. She said a total of 35,420 votes were cast in Richland County’s primary — a 44 percent turnout.
Hankins added that the rest of the vote counts were not close enough to merit a recount, but the board of elections committee will meet on Thursday, April 7 for a post-election audit.
“It’s just to make sure we have the hand counts and the machine counts matching. It’s a required thing after presidential primary,” Hankins said.
For additional details surrounding provisional votes and how it played out between Banks and Wert, click here for a Richland Source article.
