Portage County election results final; Hiram road levy fails
About 2,000 additional ballots were counted after Election Day in Portage County, according to final election results that were certified Wednesday.
The ballots, which were absentee, overseas and provisional ballots, changed only one outcome − a road levy in Hiram Township failed by eight votes.
Issue 27, a replacement levy for roads and bridges in Hiram Township, had 762 voting in favor, and 754 voting no, according to the official canvas the Portage County Board of Elections released Wednesday. Results counted on election night showed the levy winning by a single vote.
Faith Lyon, executive director of the Board of Elections, said absentee and provisional ballots added some votes to the Hiram levy, as well as contests throughout Portage County. No other outcomes were changed.
In addition to the presidential and statewide contests, voters in Portage County decided on countywide races such as sheriff and commissioner, along with requests for new money that failed in school districts in Ravenna and Aurora.
A total of 84,211 of Portage County's 111,135 registered voters cast ballots in the Nov. 5 election, raising voter turnout to just over 75%. On election night, 82,384 votes were counted.
While the voter turnout wasn't a record, the number of voters registered was. Lyon said the county's 111,135 registered voters has grown steadily over the past 60 years, and is the largest number of registered voters in a presidential election.
The highest percentage of voter turnout was 1964, she said, but back then, Portage County had fewer than 39,000 registered voters and 89% turnout in the presidential election. In 2020, Portage County had just over 108,000 registered voters, and 83,488 of them turned out to vote.
"Every presidential election, our voter registration numbers have increased," she said.
While it appeared on election night that a recount was certain for Issue 27, Lyon said it will not be necessary. She said a recount is triggered when the results are closer than a difference of one half of 1%.
For Issue 27, she said, the difference would have needed to be seven votes or fewer. So, as it turned out, it was a one-vote margin that decided whether a recount was needed.
Reporter Diane Smith can be reached at 330-298-1139 or dsmith@recordpub.com.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Portage County election results final; Hiram road levy fails
