Final results: Anna income tax fails

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SIDNEY — The results of the Nov. 8 election were certified Monday morning by the Shelby County Board of Elections. And there was one change in the final results. The Anna income tax levy, which was winning by six votes on Nov. 8, changed with the certification.

The final tally found the levy failing by four votes. The vote total was 347 votes (49.71 percent) for the levy and 351 votes (50.29 percent) against the levy.

While the levy failed by four votes, the Shelby County Board of Elections is not required to do an automatic recount of the ballots. According to Ohio Revised Code, an automatic recount occurs when the difference is less than one-half of 1 percent of the vote cast.

For the Anna levy, the vote cast would have to be less than 3.5 votes. Because the difference is four votes, there is no automatic recount.

On Election Day, the final was 345 for the levy and 339 against the levy. The count included 267 people who voted yes on Election Day and 78 yes votes sent in by absentee ballot. The no votes included 274 who voted no on Election Day and 65 absentee ballots with no votes.

The certified vote Monday included absentee ballots that hadn’t been received by Election Day and provisional votes. Two additional absentee ballots were counted — both no votes. There were 12 provisional ballots counted — two for the tax and 10 against the tax.

Anna officials have five days to request a recount of the results. If the board of elections receives the request, the board has 10 days to do the recount.

Village administrator Wayne York said Tuesday morning that village council was meeting Tuesday night in regular session. He said he was sure the issue will be discussed and they will decide whether they want to pursue a recount.

The additional 0.25 percent income tax levy would have raised the income tax rate from 1.75 percent to 2.0 percent total.

The funds generated from the additional tax would have hired an extra officer, and provided better training, purchase equipment like bullet resistant vests, and patch the leaking roof at the police department.

Before certifying the election, Director Dawn Billing asked the board members had to review the staff’s recommendations on whether or not to approve absentee and provisional ballots from the election.

The board accepted 53 absentee ballots which were received by Nov. 7. Those that had a postmark of Nov. 7 were also approved.

Four absentee ballots with no postmarks but which met board policy were also approved.

Ten military/overseas ballots had to be remade because those registered voters receive their ballot via email. The person prints out the ballot, marks their responses and then mails in the ballot. The person’s selections were transferred to a “real” ballot Monday morning.

Another 14 absentee ballots had to be remade by the board because two were split when they were opened and others were not accepted by the scanner.

The approved the recommendation to not count 26 absentee ballots because they were missing one of the following: an identification, no identification envelope was included with the ballot, there no stubs with the ballot or if it was postmarked after Nov. 7. One absentee ballot was rejected because it was postmarked on Nov. 8. The person had sent it via priority, express mail with the U.S. Post Office.

There were 508 provisional ballots which the board reviewed. A total of 465 ballots were from registered voters who had not voted in Shelby County, which were approved.

Twenty-three people had provisional ballots because they had requested an absentee ballot. The people didn’t return the absentee ballot and had voted at the polls on Election day.

Twenty provisional ballots had to be remade because the person voted in the right polling but in the wrong precinct.

All 508 provisional votes were approved.

Billing also presented 109 provisional ballots which should not be approved. None of the ballots had been opened. Some of the ballots had incomplete information, some voted at the wrong precinct and wrong polling location, some were not registered voters 30 days before Election Day and two had requested absentee ballots. Those two people had returned their absentee ballots and had also voted on Election Day.

The board approved the staff’s recommendation. It also agreed to send the information about the two people who had voted twice to the prosecutor’s office for review.

A total of 89.33 percent of Shelby County’s registered voters cast their votes on the Nov. 8 election. The county has 26,997 registered voters. Of those, 24,116 voted on Election Day or by absentee ballot.

A letter from the Shelby County Prosecutor’s Office was reviewed by the board. The letter dealt with an incident in which a person was campaigning within the 100 foot neutral zone at a polling location.

Melissa Wood, assistant prosecuting attorney, wrote that the board had complied with its duties to ask the person to leave the neutral zone area. The report will be forwarded to the Secretary of State’s Office for further review.

The board also approved bills for October and November, many dealing with the Nov. 8 election. Barrett Bothers was paid $565 for absentee envelopes; $142 for provisional envelopes; and $567 for precinct kits.

Other bills for the election were $11,772.79 for ES&S, ballots; $1,250, room rent; $21,294, poll workers; $2,300.23, extra help; $4,184.84, legal ads in the Sidney Daily News.

Chris Gibbs, chair, Merrill Asher, board member and Billing also presented their annual budget to the Shelby County Commissioners on Nov. 17.

The board will be scheduling a post election audit meeting once they learn if one of the state judicial races will need a recount.

Shelby County Board of Elections chair Chris Gibbs, left to right, and board members Merrill Asher, Chuck Craynon and Jon Baker, look over absentee ballots prior to certifying the Nov. 8 election Monday morning.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/47/2016/11/web1_electioncertified-2.jpgShelby County Board of Elections chair Chris Gibbs, left to right, and board members Merrill Asher, Chuck Craynon and Jon Baker, look over absentee ballots prior to certifying the Nov. 8 election Monday morning.
Board of Elections certifies Nov. 8 vote

By Melanie Speicher

[email protected]

Reach the writer at 937-538-4822; follow her on Twitter @MelSpeicherSDN. Follow the SDN on Facebook, www.facebook.com/SidneyDailyNews.

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