Official vote count could impact several races

By STEVE COLON

Expositor Editor

Fulton County voters turned out for the Nov. 3 election at about the rate predicted by the board's director.

Kathy Meyer had predicted about a 45 percent voter turnout for Tuesday's election and as of Wednesday the actual percentage stood at 41.9 percent.

"I was a little trepidacious at first when I predicted that 45 percent," she said. "But when absentees started coming in I thought that number might actually be low."

As it turns out, she could be spot on as there is still time for additional absentee ballots to arrive. Those ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 2 and arrive at the Board of Elections by Nov. 12, in advance of the vote certification set for Nov. 16 at 4:30 p.m. They will count the 153 provisional ballots also at that time.

The provisional votes will have an impact on several area races as there is a tie for the fourth seat on Lyons Village Council, the Archbold and Swanton school board races are close and the Wauseon school board is awaiting results of the write-in ballots.

In Lyons, only the top three unofficial winners are known. Andrea Gleckler and John O'Neil are relatively safe with 114 and 107 votes respectively. The third seat, as of now goes to Julie Fenicle, with 89 votes. Ty Walker and John Arquette are tied with 82 votes each.

In the event of a tie after the vote is certified, Meyer said the seat will be determined by a toss of a coin by the election's board.

In Archbold, after Henry County votes were added, the three seats unofficially went to John Lugbill with 1,489 votes, Phil Nofziger with 1,025 votes and Janet Wyse with 975 votes. Roel Galvan has 964 votes. When the vote is certified, that third seat could change.

The exact numbers of provisional ballots in Lyons and Archbold were not available at press time.

In Wauseon, the votes are final for school board with Miriam Frank and Sandy Griggs taking back their seats. However, write-in candidates Anthony Stidham and Dennis Cook will not know who got the third seat until the vote is certified.

The tally Tuesday night only counted total write-in votes. Each of the 693 write in votes will be counted and certified. Meyer said the write-in vote does not need to exactly match the candidates name as long as the board can determine "the voters intent" at the canvass.

Results reported on the front page are for contested races only. Visit the Board of Elections website at www.fultoncountyoh.com/county_agencies/board_elections/board_elections.htm.