Board of Elections starts recount, audit
Nov. 29—JEFFERSON — The Ashtabula County Board of Elections met on Tuesday morning to begin the process of a pair of recounts from the general election earlier this month, as well as the audit of the election, and the board is scheduled to meet again on Thursday to certify the final results.
Last week, after provisional and absentee ballots were added to the election-day vote totals, two races were within the half-percent recount range — the Northeast Fire District levy and the Orwell Township Trustee race.
The Northeast Fire District levy failed, 1,019 votes in favor to 1,026 votes against.
Two of the four candidates in the Orwell Township trustee race were two votes apart, with Jack Scott receiving 206 votes and Tim Hopes receiving 204 votes.
Board member Susan Hagan praised the dedication of staff members who showed up to conduct the recount despite heavy snow.
Orwell, Kingsville and Monroe townships were randomly selected to be recounted.
Board of Elections Deputy Director John Mead said the board was conducting a recount of the two races and the post-election audit at the same time.
More than 1,500 votes were recounted by hand.
"We hand-count a percentage, and if that matches, we run the rest through the machine again," Mead said. "If it doesn't match, the we recount the entire race by hand."
For the post-election audit, staff were looking at issues 1 and 2, and the county-wide election, he said.
The board conducts an audit after every election to double check that results are accurate, Mead said.
"Recounts are rare, but not so much on an election like this, with so many races with so many small turnouts," he said.
The recount was not finished by Tuesday afternoon, and the board adjourned until Thursday to certify the final results.
Mead said there had been no issues with the recount as of Tuesday afternoon, but the sheer volume and the nature of the recount caused it to take longer than expected.
