Winner will not be declared until at least March 21

 

Almost 48 hours since voters went to the polls, the apparent winner in the race for Republican nominee for the 93rd District House seat has picked up a handful more votes but still the final outcome remains undecided.

“I can’t tell you who the winner is,” Matt McClellan, spokesman for the Ohio Secretary of State, said. “We won’t know until the official results.”

Gallia County financial adviser Ryan Smith still appears to be the winner, pulling in 6,902 or 40.92 percent of the vote. Coming in second is Lawrence Economic Development Corp. director Bill Dingus with 6,840 or 40.56 percent. That is 14 votes more for Smith than he had at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The third contender in the race was Jackson County Commissioner Jim Riepenhoff who won 3,123 votes. Besides those three counties, the 93rd District also includes Vinton County.

These figures include all precincts with the absentee ballots that had been received up until the polls closed.

But still to be counted are a possible total 319 outstanding absentee ballots and 261 provisional ballots. Outstanding absentees are ballots that have been sent out by the county boards of election but not yet received. Those ballots must bear the postmark of March 5 or the day before the election to be counted and be received up to 10 days after the election.

In Gallia there are 12 outstanding absentees; 132 absentees in Jackson; and 177 in Lawrence. There are no outstanding absentees in Vinton.

Provisional ballots happen when a voter appears at the polls and doesn’t have proper identification or the address on file at the BOE office doesn’t match what the voter has listed on his ID. Those ballots must be verified by March 21, the date of the official canvas.

“The board reviews to check to see if you are who you say you,” McClellan said.

Since the difference in vote tallies between Smith and Dingus is one-half percent of the total votes cast in that race, it is likely there will be an automatic recount. That recount would not take place until the election results are officially certified.

“If the race is multi-county, we will determine the timeline,” McClellan said.