LISBON –With Mahoning County’s certified votes added in, the Columbiana County Board of Elections no longer has to do an automatic recount of the Fairfield Township trustee race, but they do have to recount the ballots for the West Branch school board race.

Columbiana County Board of Elections Director Kim Fusco explained that the Mahoning County Board of Elections certified the official results from the Nov. 4 general election on Wednesday and when their numbers were added with Columbiana County’s numbers, which were certified Tuesday, the margin grew wider in the Fairfield Township trustee race.

The new margin was more than one-half of 1%, eliminating the need for an automatic recount. The new vote totals for the candidates, with both counties combined, are: Bob Hum with 895 votes, David Vollnogle with 894 votes, Logan Cope with 871 votes, Jared Work with 875 votes and Carly Brock with 410 votes.

Fusco said the difference between Vollnogle and Work was now 19 votes.

The margin had to be 15 votes or less to trigger an automatic recount. Hum and Vollnogle were the winners of the two seats.

As for West Branch, she said Mahoning County notified Columbiana County of the need for a recount in the school board race for three seats. Only 14 votes separate third-place winner Tonya Dean from Samuel Jennings, who came in fourth place, necessitating the need for the automatic recount.

The combined vote totals for the race are: Peggy Shaver with 1,711, Penny DeShields with 1,679, Tonya Dean with 1,438, Samuel Jennings with 1,424 and Angela Howell with 594.

Fusco said the Columbiana County Board of Elections staff will recount by hand Knox Township Northwest precinct with 298 ballots to reach the required 5% handcount total required for the West Branch school board race.

West Branch will take the place of Fairfield Township for the recounts required to be done in Columbiana County. Other recounts will take place for West Township trustee and United Local school board. Besides Knox Township Northwest, other precincts to be counted by hand include Butler Township North with 365 ballots, Center Township South with 137 ballots and West Township Bayard with 240 ballots.

The recounts in Columbiana County will take place Monday beginning at 9 a.m. at board offices in Lisbon. The board will meet at 8 a.m. Tuesday to certify the recount results. She expected the recount in Mahoning County to also take place next week.

mgreier@mojonews.com