Trumbull board announces winners in write-in races

By Ed Runyan

Races in Bazetta and Southington townships are close enough for an automatic recount.

WARREN — The official Trumbull County count of ballots from the Nov. 3 election shows that Mark Zuppo Sr. and Phillip C. Fisher are winners of the four-person race for Girard Board of Education.

The results were not available election night because the Trumbull elections board doesn’t count write-ins on election night, and all four candidates in the race were write-ins. The two incumbents, John Moliterno and Paul A. Rich, didn’t run for re-election.

Zuppo led the four candidates with 691 votes, followed by Fisher with 331, Sharon Spence with 308 and Jamie Devore with 224, results released Tuesday show.

Fisher, reached by phone Tuesday, said it was an unusual situation that no one filed to run for the two open seats. When he realized what happened, he decided to run as a write-in to avoid the school board having to appoint two people to the school board.

That might have led to problems, Fisher said, because it would have resulted in all five positions being up for election in 2011 and the possibility of a completely new school board taking office in 2012.

Fisher was previously on the board from 2004-07.

Girard was not the only place where write-ins affected the vote totals. There were also races for the Mathews, Brookfield and Newton Falls school boards affected.

In Newton Falls, write-in candidate Brenda Koontz won election to a seat on the board with 215 write-in votes. She had competed with two other write-in candidates for the third open seat on the school board.

Likewise, Tarin L. Brown received the third-most votes in the race for the Mathews Board of Education and earned a seat out of four write-in candidates.

Write-ins votes for Brookfield Board of Education, Newton Falls City Council 1st Ward, Newton Falls City Council Fourth Ward and Cortland City Council didn’t change the outcome of the race.

With provisional ballots now included, the races for Bazetta Township trustee and Southington Township fiscal officer are close enough to qualify for an automatic recount.

Provisional ballots are cast by people who move into a voting district no more than 30 days before an election, those who change their name (typically through marriage) without notifying the board of elections or fail to provide a valid form of identification when they go to the polls.

Unofficial election results released on election night had Don Urchek leading Theodore J. Webb for Bazetta Township trustee by 12 votes. With provisional ballots included, Urchek now leads by 10 — 705 to 695 — which is within 0.5 percent or less required for an automatic recount. Frank W. Parke, the top vote-getter in Bazetta Township, picked up three votes and now has 796.

Two incumbent Bazetta trustees, William Glancy and Michael Piros, didn’t run for re-election.

The Bazetta recount will be conducted at 11 a.m. Dec. 2 at the elections board office.

Cynthia Speaker had a seven-vote lead over L. Steinmetz-Mills to complete the unexpired term as Southington Township fiscal officer on election night. The provisional ballots increased her lead to 11 votes.

A recount of that race will be conducted at 10 a.m. Dec. 2.

runyan@vindy.com