Recount confirms slim victory for Richland County park levy
A recount of the Richland County park levy, voted on May 2, is complete, confirming that the levy passed by a slim margin of 37 votes.
The recount, which is required by Ohio law if the margin of victory is within one-half of one percent, found that countywide, 6,209 voted in favor of the park levy, while 6,172 voted against. The total difference of votes countywide was at a slim margin of 0.3 percent.
“Anything that is within one-half of 1 percent is an automatic recount. So, if it’s 0.5 percent or less, the margin, it gets an automatic recount,” said Matt Finfgeld, director of the Richland County Board of Elections. “The park qualified as an automatic recount. It was 0.3 percent difference.”
Voters in Shelby, Jackson, and Sharon Townships, among others, participated in this election.
The recount involved a careful, hand-counting process of at least 5 percent of the votes, undertaken by bipartisan teams.
At a May 16 elections board meeting, polling locations for the recount were randomly picked out of a bowl to get to the 5 percent.
“The first one they picked was Butler Event Center, which was a smaller one. Then they picked Ontario City Hall. And those two did not equal 5 percent. So, we had a third one picked, and that one that was picked was Mansfield Crossroads,” Finfgeld said of the church in Mansfield.
“That took it to 1,340 votes that we hand-counted, which is a little over 10 percent of the results,” he detailed.
The hand-counting started on May 23 and was completed later that day.
“We had four bipartisan teams,” Finfgeld said.
“We unroll the tapes from the (electronic voting) machines, and we hand count those for the park levy,” Finfgeld explained. “One of them is looking at the tape, the other bipartisan member is writing down what that person is saying. Then we compare it to what was tabulated.”
The procedure involved counting all kinds of votes: absentee, election day, mail, and paper ballots, to ensure accuracy.
“The numbers did not change. The park levy still won by 37 votes, because our numbers were 100 percent accurate,” Finfgeld said, affirming the results of the recount.
The new 10-year, 0.65mill property tax levy is for
the Richland County Park District’s operating expenses and will amount to $23 per year for each $100,000 of auditor’s appraised value.
Starting next year, this county park levy will be included in the 2024 real estate tax bill, including in Shelby.
“So, starting next year on their real estate tax bill, that 0.65 mil levy will be a part of their tax bill they pay in 2024,” Finfgeld said.
The cost of the recount was absorbed by the Richland County Board of Elections. (If a contest is over half a percent, a candidate can request a recount for a fee of $65 per precinct.)
The Richland County
Park District is separate from Shelby’s city park system. The county park district includes attractions such as the Richland B&O Bike Trail and the Gorman Nature Center.
The county park levy was approved the same day that Shelby voters overwhelmingly approved a five-year, 0.2 percent income tax renewal for city roadway and sidewalk improvements and repair in the same election.
The tally was 390-209 or 65.11 percent in favor and 34.99 percent opposed to the Shelby street/sidewalk measure, according to official results from the Richland County elections board.
For more election information, visit the board of elections website at www. boe.ohio.gov/richland