Members of the Champaign County Board of Elections, board administration and county officials watch as the votes are counted during Thursday’s certification process.
Andrew Grimm Photography
The Republican primary race for Champaign County Sheriff is headed to an automatic recount to be held at 9 a.m. on April 11 by the Champaign County Board of Elections.
No winner can be declared until after the recount.
The board of elections met on Thursday morning to certify the March 19 election results.
After Thursday’s tally that includes all valid votes cast including absentee and provisional ballots, challenger Chad Burroughs had 3,276 votes and incumbent Sheriff Matt Melvin had 3,267 votes.
Because the race is within a margin of 0.5%, the board of elections will conduct an automatic recount on April 11 to finalize the election.
No Democrat or Independent filed to run for the sheriff’s office. The winner of the Republican primary will be the only name on the November ballot and will likely be the next sheriff.
There is still an opportunity for a write-in candidate to file for candidacy later this year, but that candidate’s name would not appear on the ballot in November.
Mechanicsburg school levy
Mechanicsburg Exempted Village School District’s emergency renewal levy failed again after voters previously rejected it in November. According to March 19 combined tallies from Champaign and Madison counties, 538 voted against the levy and 526 voted for the levy. There is no automatic recount because the tally did not result in a margin of 0.5% or less.
Independent candidate filings
Two Independent candidates have filed to run for Champaign County coroner on the November general election ballot.
Both candidates filed “good” petitions, according to a board of elections spokesperson, but the board “tabled certifying the petitions until further investigation can be done.” The reason for the investigation was not disclosed.
Kaleb Deam, D.O., and Urbana chiropractor Jeff Donay are the candidates who filed petitions as Independents. If approved for the November ballot, Deam and Donay would face Republican nominee Steven Tornik, D.O., who ran unopposed on the March 19 ballot.
Long-serving coroner Joshua Richards, M.D., is slated to retire from the post Dec. 31.
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Outcomes of other previously-reported race results from the March 19 election did not change after Thursday’s certification. Those results were published in the March 22 edition of the Urbana Daily Citizen.
Overall voter turnout for March 19 was 31.46% in Champaign County.
