No election results changed after Monday’s official ballot count at the Lawrence County Board of Elections.

Tuesday, November 16, 1999

No election results changed after Monday’s official ballot count at the Lawrence County Board of Elections.

"We didn’t see any reversals," board director Mary Wipert said.

Many race totals remained the same, with only walk-in ballots making slight changes to some totals, Mrs. Wipert said.

A recount has been scheduled for one race, though.

Jackie Harris took one of the three Rock Hill Board of Education seats Nov. 2, beating out Terry Barker by only eight votes – 1,212 to 1,204.

Mrs. Harris’s margin of victory increased to 11 votes after the Monday count – 1,219 for Harris to 1,208 for Barker – but the race is still close enough to warrant a recount, Mrs. Wipert said.

"There is automatically a recount when the margin is less than one-half of 1 percent," she said.

The recount is set for 6 p.m. Monday at the board office in the courthouse.

The official turnout for the Nov. 2 election was 42.54 percent, higher than average, Mrs. Wipert said.

And board officials do not expect the March 2000 primary election turnout to reach that level, she added.

"A lot of people don’t like to vote in primary elections, probably because they don’t like to declare their politics," she said.

Although primaries usually are held in May, next year’s is in March because of the presidential election, which changes deadlines under Ohio law, Mrs. Wipert said.

"The law was changed when Ohio went to the large primary election," she said.

Now, when the nation elects a president, all primaries are held in March, whereas during the next governor’s race in 2002, the primary will be in May, for example, she said.

That means the board of elections needs petitions earlier this campaign season, too.

Politicians must file by Jan. 7 and agencies running levy issues must file by Dec. 23, Mrs. Wipert said.

"Like if South Point wants to put their bond levy back on, they have to file before the end of the year," she said.

The changes also mean that board of elections officials have less time to prepare ballots, Mrs. Wipert added.

"This filing deadline is harder on us than the candidates because we don’t have as many days between the deadline and the actual election," she said.

So far, only three candidates have filed for the March primary – incumbent Dale Burcham for clerk of courts, incumbent Sue Deeds for county recorder and Jason Stephens for county commissioner.