The Champaign County Board of Elections will meet at 9 a.m. on May 18 to certify results of the primary election.
Added to Tuesday’s unofficial count will be provisional and absentee ballots that had not arrived by mail to the Board of Elections by 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday’s Election Day.
Meredith Bodey, director of the county Board of Elections, said Wednesday that 130 provisional and 689 absentee ballots had not arrived at that point. If postmarked by April 27 and delivered to the Board of Elections by May 8, they will be counted as part of the May 18 official count.
Key issues on the delayed March primary ballot included a new levy to build a senior center in Urbana (issue is narrowly passing so far with 3,507 votes for/3,381 against); a street levy for St. Paris (passing with 206 votes for/150 against); and a levy in Christiansburg (passing with 50 for/29 against).
In contested Republican races for Champaign County sheriff and two Champaign County Commission seats:
-Sheriff: Incumbent Matt Melvin (2,184 votes) leads both challengers Chad Burroughs (1,641 votes) and David Patrick (1,064 votes).
-County Commission: Incumbent David E. Faulkner (2,077 votes) is losing to challenger Tim Cassady (2,605 votes).
-County Commission: Incumbent Steven R. Hess (2,889 votes) is leading challenger Stacey Flora Logwood (1,710 votes).
Other countywide officeholders, state officeholders and U.S. officeholders on Champaign County ballots were unopposed in the primary.
Shannon Freshour is the presumed, but not finalized, winner among three Democrats on the primary ballot for the nomination to run against U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) in November.
Due to COVID-19 concerns, the March 17 primary was moved to April 28 and in-person voting was replaced by absentee-ballot voting. Votes that already had been cast in-person were among those counted on Tuesday.
For this reason, although the Champaign County Board of Elections tallied ballots on Tuesday following the 7:30 p.m. deadline, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office emphasized to local media outlets that unofficial results released this week should not be viewed with any degree of certainty.
