The Licking County Board of Elections met Monday to certify results of the Nov. 4 election and found that, because of a close vote, only one issue requires an automatic recount.
After counting absentee and provisional ballots, the board of elections staff found that the Newark Township proposal for an additional property tax of 1.5 mills for five years for construction and repair of streets roads and bridges is losing by two votes – 290 against and 288 for the levy.
A result that close triggers an automatic recount, which will happen on Nov. 25, said Tess Wigginton, elections board director.
That was the only recount planned as of the meeting on Nov. 17. Wigginton said anyone involved in a race or issue has five days from Nov. 17 to request a recount.
“A few other results changed a little bit, but not enough to change the outcome or trigger a recount,” she said, although some election observers were wondering if the final tally would result in a recount in the closely watched race for two Etna Township trustees’ seats.
In that eight-person race, incumbents Mark Evans and Rozland McKee were defeated by John Carlisle, of Millersport, who previously had been a trustee, and Rachel Zelazny of Pataskala.
Evans has been a controversial figure on the board and regularly was at odds with McKee and the third trustee, Gary Burkholder.
Zelazny was the top vote-getter with 1,262, or 17.63%, and Carlisle was the second highest with 1,089 votes, or 15.21%. Evans came in third with 1,050 votes, or 14.66%. The 39-vote difference between Carlisle and Evans is not enough to require an automatic recount, Wigginton said, adding that a difference of 29 or fewer votes would have triggered a recount.
A new member joined the elections board on Nov. 17. Newark attorney Bruce Ennen, a former Newark law director and longtime member of the Licking County Democratic Party, was sworn into office by Licking County Common Pleas Judge David Branstool.
Ennen replaces former board chair Freddie Latella of Etna, who died at age 69 on Oct. 22. Latella also had been a longtime leader in the Democratic Party and had served as a bailiff for Judges David Stansbury and David Branstool.
“Freddie is irreplaceable,” Wigginton said. “He was so deeply involved in his community – and in politics, even though he never ran for anything. His greatest pleasure was in helping others get elected. … And he had friends on both sides of the aisle.”
She said that Ennen “brings to us a wealth of knowledge. He’s an attorney who had been law director, and he is very active in the party.”
She said that by state regulations, the party had 15 days from Latella’s death to pick a replacement, or it would be up to the Republican secretary of state to pick a replacement. The county Democratic Central Committee met the day after the November election and selected Ennen.
The elections board reorganized during the Nov. 17 meeting. As the longest-tenured member of the elections board, David Rhodes, the Newark Public Service director and a Republican, was named the board chair.
And because of that move, Wigginton became the elections board director, switching leadership positions with Brian Mead, who has been the director and now will be the deputy director. State regulations require that the elections board director not be of the same party as the board chair.
Wigginton said that because she and Mead have mutual respect and work as a team, little will change.
“We have always treated this as a partnership,” she said. “He shares things with me, and I share things with him.”
The next elections board meeting will be at 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 17 at the Licking County Administration Building, 20 S. 2nd St. in Newark, for regular business and to certify candidates for the primary ballot.
Alan Miller writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.