Lorain: Election went smoothly

County Board of Elections to certify ballot results Nov 20

The results are in for election 2014, but the final numbers could change for candidate races and issues that appeared on the Nov. 4 ballot.

The Lorain County Board of Elec- tions will meet Nov. 18 to consider 1,281 provisional ballots and on Nov. 20 to certify the results of the election, said Paul Adams, director of the board.

Meanwhile, the staff will tally results of 3,028 ballots that were not counted as part of the Nov. 4 results, Adams said.

Once those are accounted for, the Board of Elections will determine if the results trigger an automatic recount for any races or issues, Adams said.

The provisional ballots deal mostly with people who moved, either within Lorain County or from another county, and did not update their address information with the Board of Elections, Adams said.

Typically, the proportion of results from the provisional ballots are pretty close to what the unofficial results are, Adams said, adding he did not anticipate the provisional ballots will make major changes to the outcomes of the elections.

“The turnout was moderate to light in many areas of the county and the counting and processing of the ballots went very smoothly,” Adams said.

Lorain County had 203,718 registered voters for the November 2014 election, and 78,775 came out, for a voter turnout rate of 38.67 percent, according to figures from the Board of Elections.

“Overall, this is on the lower end of moderate for a gubernatorial election,” Adams said.

In the gubernatorial election of 2010, Lorain County had 208,660 registered voters and 102,071 voted, for a voter turnout rate of 48.92 per- cent, according to the earlier year’s figures.

Usually, a gubernatorial election will get closer to 50 percent voter turnout, Adams said.

As for Lorain County’s 188 precincts, North Ridgeville 3-D had 1,282 voters and 842 ballots cast, for voter turnout rate of 65.68 percent, according to board figures. That precinct usually has the highest turnout of any in the county, Adams said, but it is unclear exactly why.

Oberlin’s precinct 8 had the lowest voter turnout of any precinct in the county at 11.05 percent, with 1,810 voters, but 200 ballots cast.

In the city of Lorain, precinct 8-D had 760 voters and 379 ballots cast, for a voter turnout rate of 49.87 percent; Lorain City 5-B had the lowest turnout rate in the city, with 1,483 voters but 181 ballots cast, or 12.2 percent voter turnout, according to board figures.

As is the case in recent years, attorneys from the federal Department of Justice monitored elections at some polling places in Lorain, where the Board of Elections is required to provide Spanish language service for voters, Adams said.

“There were no issues relayed to our office from their visit,” he said. “Generally, things went well.”

Adams also serves as chairman of the Democratic Party of Lorain, and he said there were a lot of Democrats in Lorain that chose to stay home on Election Day.

“That has to do with the top of the ticket,” a factor whether people like to admit it or not, Adams said. “The top of the ticket wasn’t there.”

Republican gains in Congress and state governorships were reported around the country.

In Lorain County, Democratic challenger Matt Lundy defeated Republican county Commissioner Tom Williams, according to the unofficial results.

The amount of money that Republicans spent on campaigns was “pretty stagger- ing,” but that also made Lundy’s win more impressive because he was able to get support from various parts of the county, including North Ridgeville, where voters generally tapped Republican candidates, Adams said.

Lundy won Lorain, Elyria, North Ridgeville, Oberlin and Sheffield Lake, getting 38,030 votes, while Williams received 36,825 votes and beat Lundy in Amherst, Avon, Avon Lake, Vermilion and the villages and townships of Lorain County, according to unofficial results.