MANSFIELD — Voters in the Mansfield City Schools district have chosen two new members for the board of education, but only one has been unofficially confirmed as of early Wednesday morning.
Jennifer Kime was the only candidate to appear on Tuesday’s ballot. She secured a spot on the board with 5,223 votes, according to final, unofficial totals from the Richland County Board of Elections.
Jason Lawrence and Leslie Ward both ran as write-in candidates. Tuesday night’s final tally had 35 votes for Lawrence and 64 for Ward.
But 757 write-in votes are listed as “unresolved” on the board of election’s results.
Matt Finfgeld, director of the Richland County Board of Elections, said election workers had to stop counting write-in votes Tuesday night due to the high volume.
“It got to the point where we had to stop because we wouldn’t have had results out tonight,” Finfgeld said.
Finfgeld said this year’s election had more write-in candidates than he’s ever seen in his two-and-a-half years as director. Nearly every race in the county had write-ins submitted.
While candidates can run as an official “write-in,” voters are also free to write in any name they choose on Election Day. Finfgeld indicated that some write-ins are likely gags.
“There’s a lot of comedians in our county,” he said.
Results are certified 10 days after Election Day. Finfgeld said the board technically has until then to tally the write-in votes.
“Our goal is not to take that long,” he added.
Kime and the other write-in candidate will replace current board members Renda Cline and Sheryl Weber, who chose not to run for re-election.
Kime reacts to high voter percentage
Even though she ran unopposed, Kime said she appreciates everyone who voted for her.
“It’s my first time running for office and I’m really excited about the challenge ahead,” said Kime, the CEO of Downtown Mansfield Inc.
“I just want to thank everyone for their support. I’ve had a lot of people reaching out to me with excitement and ideas and concerns for the district.”
