MANSFIELD — It’s going to take six more days to determine a leader for the next four years in Mansfield City Council’s 3rd Ward.
It will come down to 20 provisional ballots from voters in the ward that were unanimously accepted on Tuesday morning by the bipartisan Richland County Board of Elections.
That same board will meet Nov. 17 at 10 a.m. to certify and announce final, official totals — pending the possibility of an automatic recount if the final difference is less than one-half of one percent of total votes cast in the race.
That’s because on Election Night only two votes separated Republican incumbent Rev. El Akuchie and Democratic challenger Crystal Davis Weese.
Davis Weese held a 487-485 edge when the local election board finished counting on Nov. 4, pending any approved provisional ballots or absentee votes by mail that were postmarked by Nov. 3 and had arrived by Nov. 8.
No absentee votes were added to the 3rd Ward total, according to Board of Elections Director Matt Finfgeld and Assistant Director Jane Zimmermann. Just five of 20 such absentee ballots from around the county were postmarked and arrived in time to be considered valid.
None of the other races or issues in the county will be impacted by the addition of provisional and/or absentee ballots.
The 20 provisionals accepted in the 3rd Ward are among 108 accepted countywide, according to the bipartisan leaders.
Another 24 provisional ballots were rejected with 14 coming from unregistered voters, seven with no ID or expired ID, and three from people who previously cast ballots during early voting.
Finfgeld and Zimmermann said they both believed the three people who had already voted simply forgot and made honest mistakes.
“It’s our belief that it wasn’t intentionally (done),” Finfgeld said. “I think they came in early and voted.
“Three or four weeks went by (before Election Day) and they are kind of older, so we don’t think it was done with intent.”
Zimmermann said during the meeting that 11 or 12 of the 20 provisionals in the 3rd Ward came from nursing home residents in the ward. In such instances, residents likely had recently moved into the long-term care facilities and had not updated their addresses in the system.
According to the Ohio Secretary of State website:
“A provisional ballot is used to record a vote if a voter’s eligibility is in question and the voter would otherwise not be permitted to vote at his or her polling place. The content of a provisional ballot is no different from a regular ballot, but it is cast “provisionally” until election officials can verify the voter’s eligibility to vote in the particular precinct at that election.
“There are several scenarios in which a voter may cast a provisional ballot. A provisional ballot may be used on Election Day if a voter’s eligibility is in question, or before (or on) Election Day if a voter has recently changed his or her address and did not update his or her voter registration.”
If a recount is necessary, the elections board will reschedule it at the Nov. 17 meeting.
