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About 1,200 ballots left to be counted in race for Ohio’s 59th House District
About 1,200 ballots left to be counted
YOUNGSTOWN
It’s not over until it’s over.
That’s what Eric Ungaro, Democratic candidate for Ohio’s 59th House District, wants his supporters to know as nearly 1,200 ballots in the contest remain to be counted.
With a 409-vote lead over Ungaro, Republican Don Manning is the unofficial winner, according to final unofficial results from the Mahoning County Board of Elections. But Ungaro said Monday he will not concede until all of the provisional and absentee ballots have been counted.
There are 743 provisional ballots and 450 absentee ballots that must be certified and counted in that race, Mahoning County Board of Elections deputy director Tom McCabe said Monday.
Provisional ballots, he explained, are provided to voters who for some reason cannot obtain a regular ballot – for example, they have moved but failed to update their address.
“It’s a safeguard for those voters who have moved, haven’t changed their address, changed their name or aren’t on the voter rolls for some reason,” he said.
The absentee ballots that still must be counted are ones that were postmarked by the Monday before Election Day but didn’t arrive until later.
Ungaro is hopeful the uncounted votes might swing the results in his favor.
“It’s not over. I felt that way election night,” he said. “With 1,200 votes, you don’t know who these people are. All I need is 800 of my supporters and we win. If not, I’ll very graciously concede.”
Mark Munroe, chairman of the Mahoning County Republican Party, said that although it’s possible, he does not think the additional ballots will change the outcome of the contest.
“That’s actually a very large margin,” he said of Manning’s 409-vote lead over Ungaro. “To overcome that deficit, Ungaro would have to win a huge percentage of the outstanding and provisional ballots, which is unlikely to happen. Typically, late-arriving ballots will break similarly to those counted on election night, and it’s more likely provisionals will break in a similar manner.”
“Both Ungaro and Manning will pick up votes when the provisionals and absentees are counted, [but] likely they’ll pick up those ballots in roughly the same proportion as [on] Election” Day, Munroe added. “So while the we expect the numbers will change, we don’t expect the results to change. [Manning] won the unofficial count on election night, and we’re very confident after the final votes are certified that he’ll be the winner.”
McCabe said the board is required to certify its results to the state by Nov. 27. With the Thanksgiving holiday next week, he said it’s likely the board will take until the 26th or 27th to do so.
For an automatic recount to take place, the candidates’ vote totals must be within one-half of 1 percentage point of each other. Currently, that number is 265, but it could change depending on how many of the outstanding ballots are determined to be valid.
Typically, about 80 to 85 percent of provisional ballots are determined to be valid, McCabe said.