Provisional votes tighten some school board races

Two school board races will have automatic recounts.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- While races for seats on the Canfield and South Range school boards remain close, the Mahoning County Board of Elections won't hold automatic recounts for either.
The board opened and counted provisional votes Tuesday for the county, except in Austintown. Those provisional votes were counted Monday.
Before Tuesday's count, there were four close races for seats on the Canfield, South Range, Springfield and Western Reserve school boards.
Barry Tancer had 2,427 votes compared with 2,380 for Terry Kaleel for the third and final spot on the Canfield school board before provisional votes were counted.
Kaleel picked up 20 provisional votes to 13 for Tancer, tightening an already close race. With the provisional ballots, Tancer's 47-vote lead shrunk to 40 votes.
In the South Range race, John Fromel extended his lead for the third school board spot over incumbent Mark R. Witmer from 17 votes to 18 votes when provisionals were counted.
Recounts are automatic if the margin of victory is 0.5 of 1 percent or less after election results are certified.
There won't be automatic recounts because calculating the margin of victory is different in multicandidate races than in two-person races under Ohio election law, said James Lee, spokesman for the Ohio Secretary of State's office, and Chris Rakocy, Mahoning election board's information and technology director who oversees the counting of ballots in the county.
What the law says
Lee and Rakocy cite election law, in effect since 1974, that states: "The 'declared winning candidate' refers to the candidate whose election is disputed, rather than to all of the candidates declared elected. Thus, if five candidates seek election as [school board members], with three to be elected, only the votes cast for Candidates 3, 4 and 5 are regarded as the total number of votes cast for the third [board] seat in computing the margin for an automatic recount."
The law states the votes cast for the two winning candidates in races for three seats to an elected body aren't counted when computing the "total vote" cast for the third seat.
In Canfield, Tancer's margin of victory over Kaleel is 0.83 of 1 percent. In South Range, Fromel's margin of victory over Witmer is 0.61 of 1 percent. There was a fifth candidate in the South Range race.
If votes for all candidates were included in the two races, the margin of victory for Tancer and Fromel would be less than 0.5 of 1 percent.
Provisional votes are cast by people who move 30 days or less before the Nov. 8 election. County boards of elections in Ohio must verify the addresses of provisional voters before opening those ballots.
Automatic recounts are set for a third and final seat on two other school boards in the county.
Situation with two other races
The race for Springfield school board has Joe Mersol with 1,185 votes, compared with 1,179 votes for Jim Heaven for the third seat. Mersol leads Heaven by 0.18 of 1 percent. Before the provisional votes, Mersol had a five-vote lead.
Frank Marra holds a four-vote lead over Tamara R. Prater for the third spot on the Western Reserve school board. That margin of victory is 0.25 of 1 percent. Marra had a five-vote lead before provisionals were counted.
Those two, along with the Austintown Township trustee race, will receive automatic recounts. In that trustee race, incumbent Warren Bo Pritchard has a 16-vote lead over challenger Sam Swogger III.
The board of elections plans to certify the results of the Nov. 8 ballot next week and hold a recount for the three races during the first week in December.
skolnick@vindy.com