One area of agreement

One area of agreement
YOUNGSTOWN -- Democrats running for Youngstown City Council as well as Tracey Winbush, the failed Republican council president candidate, apparently had the same idea. Both booked Anthony's On the River for their election party. Even after they discovered the unusual situation, both refused to change their plans.
Did Winbush offer congratulations to James E. Fortune Jr. after his easy victory? Not exactly.
"There's no reason to talk to him," she said.
Rep's wife on board
YOUNGSTOWN -- Among the many familiar faces working at the Mahoning County Board of Elections on Tuesday was the wife of a congressman. Julie Ryan, wife of U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, was hired last week by the elections board as a part-time employee, and will spend the next two weeks there. As is tradition, the county Democratic and Republican parties submit names to the elections board for part-time positions, and Ryan's name was on the Democratic list. In all, the board hired 16 part-timers. Living in the county is not a requirement for working for the elections board. Ryan's legal residence is Niles.
Keeping the doors open
STRUTHERS -- If no one shows up to vote, can you close a polling precinct? That was the question posed to Mahoning County Board of Elections officials by those working at a Struthers precinct. The poll workers called the elections board about 7 p.m. -- the polls close in Ohio at 7:30 p.m. -- asking if they could shut down early because no one had showed up to vote for a while. The answer was no.
How did predictions fare?
YOUNGSTOWN -- Voter turnout predictions by elections officials in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys weren't too far off the mark.
John Payne, director of the Columbiana County Board of Elections, came closest with his predicted figure. He expected a turnout of 33 percent, and 36 percent voted.
Mahoning and Trumbull officials had each predicted turnouts of 38 percent. Mahoning had 34 percent turn out while Trumbull tallied 45 percent.
Mercer County expected 35 percent, and the total was 40 percent.
In Lawrence County, turnout was predicted at 50 percent, and 45 percent voted.
Vote of confidence
McDONALD -- Mayor James W. Border had this to say about new electronic voting screens used for the first time in the village (they will be used by the rest of Trumbull County in the March primary):
"They were slick as a whistle," Border said. "They worked great."
McDonald was the first municipality in Trumbull County to have all of its ballots counted, and Border, who didn't believe the new system scared away any voter, said he thinks that they are a lot easier to use, and that people in Trumbull County will be happy about using them next year.
Filing results via modem
YOUNGSTOWN -- Poll workers from Sebring, Struthers, Campbell and Austintown didn't have to drive to the Mahoning County Board of Elections office in Youngstown to file their results, as they had in the past. Instead, workers filed results from their communities using computer modems through the county's electronic voting system.
Elections board Director Michael Sciortino said the modems will cut down on travel time for poll workers while allowing the board of elections to post results more quickly. "We were done at 9:30 p.m., which is not bad, but we can do better," he said. Sciortino said more communities will be using modems to file results in future elections.
The filing system still has some glitches, however. Poll workers in Canfield and Poland had to bring their results to the board office after they couldn't make a connection with their modems.
Hands-on political lesson
AUSTINTOWN -- Which is more important: Attending school or stumping for a candidate on Election Day?
Some young people and their parents apparently feel it's the latter. Some young people missed school to hand out literature for Trustee-elect Lisa Oles at poll sites.
One girl, who said she was a 16-year-old Fitch student, said her parents had signed a permission slip that allowed her to miss school to work the election for Oles. She added that Oles asked her to work at the poll site.