WILLIAMSPORT – A replacement levy that was set forth by the Village of Williamsport to support its ambulance and emergency medical service hung in the balance of a recount at Pickaway County Board of the election.
The property tax replacement levy that increased to 2.5 Million an increase of 1.15 Million for 5 years starting 2023 at first failed by one vote in the unofficial results during the General Election on November 2, 2021, but during the official results one vote was found, in the 63 additional absentee ballots and 79 provisional ballots that were not yet counted, resulting in a tie.
Ties in elections are still failed as it did not receive a majority of affirmative votes, but the tie triggers an automatic recount.
That nonpartisan recount begin at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 23, at the board office.
Working in bipartisan teams to hand count the ballots, the results were confirmed, and the final result remains a 65-65 tie. Having failed to receive a majority of the votes cast, the tax issue has failed.
Following the recount, the board held a post-election audit. Bipartisan teams hand counted a portion of the results from randomly chosen precincts in the three county-wide contests – representative to Congress, the Pickaway Senior Services Levy and the Paint Valley ADAMH services levy.
The audit verified 100 percent accuracy for the results in the November 2 general election.
Boards of elections across the state engage in post-election audits as a way to ensure the accuracy of the voting equipment used on election day.
Other outcomes of the various contested races and issues did not change during the process. Pickaway County’s official results for the Nov. 2 election can be found here: https://www.boe.ohio.gov/pickaway/election-info/election-night-results/
