Democrat Danny O'Connor is inching closer to Republican Troy Balderson after the Franklin County Board of Elections discovered nearly 600 uncounted votes from Tuesday's special election in the 12th Congressional district.
O'Connor moved 190 votes closer. Elections officials say the votes from a portion of one polling location had not been processed until now. Balderson now has a lead of just over 15-hundred votes. Rougly 8 thousand uncounted provisional and absentee ballots by law may not be tallied until later this month. If the final count is closer than half-a-percent, state law triggers an automatic recount.
A BOE news release on the issue reads as follows:
"A routine preliminary audit of unofficial election night results identified additional votes cast in Worthington 3-A, B, and C. The precincts were located at the Griswold Center at 777 High Street in Worthington. Votes that were not reported in the initial election night results at the Griswold Center are as follows: Troy Balderson 198 votes; Danny O’Connor 388; and Joe Manchik 2. The votes from a portion of one voting location had not been processed into the tabulation system. Election night results are tabulated through the use of a device called a master PEB that is returned to the Board along with flash drives from each machine. The Griswold Center voting location had two master PEB’s, only one of which was read and processed into the tabulation system on Election Night. The additional votes identified during this preliminary audit will be reflected in the final official results certified by the Board of Elections on August 24th."
