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Columbiana County elections board certifies results

LISBON — An automatic recount Wednesday morning will determine which incumbent Southern Local school board member returns in January, either John Sawyer, who’s ahead by two votes right now, or Linda Morris.

The Columbiana County Board of Elections voted Friday to certify the official results of the Nov. 2 general election, then certified the official results of the overlapping districts, including Carroll and Jefferson counties.

According to the official results, out of the four candidates running for the three seats on the Southern Local school board, James Scott Hart received 611 votes, Robert Kip Dowling received 521 votes, Sawyer received 495 votes and Morris received 493 votes.

Board of Elections Director Kim Fusco explained that because the vote margin between Sawyer and Morris is less than half of 1 percent of the votes cast, in this case a difference of two votes, an automatic recount is triggered. With five days notice required, the recount can’t happen any sooner than Wednesday, with the board ordering the recount to be conducted beginning at 8 a.m. Wednesday.

Approximately 5 percent of the ballots in the eight affected precincts covering the school district must be counted by hand. Recounts will also be done in Carroll and Jefferson counties. Deputy Director Bryce Miner said if the hand tally results in the same totals, the rest of the ballots will be fed into the high speed tabulator to count. The board will meet at 2 p.m. Wednesday to certify the results of the recount.

With just the Columbiana County results, Morris was ahead by two with 489 votes to Sawyer’s 487 votes. In Carroll County, Sawyer gained two votes and Morris received none. Jefferson County then put Sawyer in the lead, with an additional six votes while Morris received an additional four votes.

Regarding the overlapping districts, Mahoning County won’t be certifying the final election results until Monday. Miner said once he receives the numbers, he’ll add them to the overall vote totals and post the new numbers on the website.

How the Mahoning County totals may affect the Washingtonville Council race won’t be known until after the official certification, with the results for a few candidates very close.

Overall, Fusco said nothing really changed with the final certified results Columbiana County, noting a couple of tight races.

At 9 a.m. Dec. 1, election board staff members will conduct the required post-election audit. The audit will be done on the Columbiana County Educational Service Center race which covers the largest area, the Beaver Local school board race and the St. Clair Township trustee race, with a random precinct to be drawn to be counted by hand. The public is invited to attend the audit. Three sets of two-person teams (one Democrat, one Republican) will count the precinct by hand for each race.

The Board of Elections office will be closed Thanksgiving and Nov. 26, the day after Thanksgiving, as paid holidays for personnel.

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