'Every vote counts.' Perry Township levy, Hartville income tax pass by razor-thin margins
CANTON – The 10-year Hartville 0.5% income tax passed by six votes, the Perry Township police levy passed by 10 votes, but the Pike Township road levy failed by eight votes, according to final Nov. 7 election results certified Tuesday by the Stark County Board of Elections.
Leaders in those communities had been waiting for late absentee and provisional ballots to be counted to learn whether their issues had passed or failed.
No outcomes from unofficial election results released by the day after the Nov. 7 election changed with the final votes counted, said Regine Johnson, the deputy director of the Stark County Board of Elections.
The results could not be finalized until the elections board tallied late-arriving mail absentee ballots and provisional ballots cast by people later verified as being eligible to vote. Tuesday was the legal deadline for the 88 county boards of election in Ohio to certify results.
"Oh my goodness. That's amazing! Every vote counts. Six votes! That's remarkable," Hartville Councilman Frank Gant about his village's income tax issue result. "We knew it was going to be close and it was going to be tight. We have a very fiscally conservative community and that definitely shows. ... I was holding my breath until it got certified."
Gant, who supported the income tax increase, said it's the first time he's aware of that voters in his village had approved an income tax increase.
For the Hartville income tax increase, it was 681 voting in favor and 675 voting against. The yes votes led by 11 after election night. But the margin slid to six votes with the late absentee and provisional ballots.
The Hartville 0.5% tax increase will last 10 years and take effect in 2024. It will fund road paving.
The vote tally for Perry Township's five-year police levy — which involved a 3.9-mill replacement and 3.9-mill increase — was 5,060 in favor and 5,050 against. The issue was passing by only three votes on election night.
Perry Township trustees and Fiscal Officer Craig Chessler couldn't be reached for comment.
The final tally for the five-year, 1-mill additional Pike Township road levy was 542 for and 550 against. The margin went from nine to eight votes, just three votes short of a margin that requires a recount.
Recounts required in Perry Township and Hartville
Because the Perry Township police levy and Hartville income tax hike passed by a margin of less than 0.5% of the votes cast, state law requires the Board of Elections to conduct a recount of all votes for a randomly selected polling location.
As part of the recounts, the board staff will also check the votes marked on the paper receipts that were checked by voters before they submitted their votes on Dominion voting machines. That will take place from Dec. 5 to Dec. 7. A recount has never overturned an election result in Stark County in recent memory.
The polling location that will be recounted for the Perry Township police levy will be Reedurban Presbyterian Church. All the votes cast in the Hartville income tax contest will be recounted because every voter in the village votes at Hartville Church of the Bretheren.
If the recount reveals no discrepancy with the official results, then the recount ends. If the board finds discrepancies, then the recount has to be expanded to other polling locations.
Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com. X formerly known as Twitter: @rwangREP.
Correction: The Perry Township police levy in the Nov. 7 election passed by a vote of 5,060 for the levy and 5,050 against the levy. An earlier version of this article gave the wrong number of people who voted against the levy.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Perry Township police, Hartville income tax pass by narrow margins
