A Dayton school board seat had a one-vote margin, and a Northridge board race was separated by two votes.
Montgomery County Board of Elections Chairwoman Rhine McLin said this is the first time since she has served on the board that this many races have been so close.
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“I know every person involved in this knows every vote counts,” McLin said.
If a race is within a half of a percent, it calls for an automatic recount. Jan Kelly, the director of the Montgomery County Board of Elections, said the results of an election typically do not change after a recount.
Recounts will take place on Dec. 4 at 8:15 a.m. Members of the Board of Elections and board staff will count the votes by hand.
Five percent of the votes cast in the races will be recounted, Kelly said.
Trotwood
Trotwood Mayor Mary McDonald finished five votes ahead of her challenger, Councilwoman Yvette Page.
Page had two more votes than McDonald in unofficial results on election night, but provisional ballots and mail-in absentee ballots had not been finalized then. The results that were certified Tuesday were those unofficial results from Nov. 5 plus the provisional and absentee ballots.
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“I never thought it would be this close because Trotwood has made such major strides over the last four years, but I am so excited today to be able to say that the citizens believed in the leadership,” said McDonald. “We believe we are moving in the right direction, and we want to continue to do that great work for each and every one of our citizens.”
McDonald said Page ran a negative campaign. Attempts to reach Page for comment were unsuccessful.
“When it comes down to who is going to be the leader of your community, it is extremely important that people show up and let everyone know either they’re happy with the leadership they got or they’re willing for a new level of leadership,” McDonald said.
Other races that will be recounted next week are Vandalia City Council, Perry Twp. trustee, Dayton Public Schools board and the Northridge school board races:
Dayton Public Schools board
More than 30,000 votes were cast in the Dayton school board race, but the margin for the last of three seats up for grabs currently stands at a single vote.
The final spot will be determined by a recount, but the tentative lead for that spot has switched hands, from Joe Lacey to Dion Sampson, who had trailed by 11 votes on election night but now leads Lacey by one vote — 6,468 to 6,467.
Lacey is an accountant who spent 12 years on Dayton’s school board before being voted out in 2017. Sampson is a former neighborhood school site coordinator in Dayton Public Schools now working as a charter school principal. Both have children attending DPS.
The first- and second-place finishers in the Dayton school board race have already been decided, as voters elected Will Smith and Gabriela Pickett to the board. The three new school board members will take office in January, joining incumbents William Harris, Jocelyn Rhynard, Mohamed al-Hamdani and Karen Wick-Gagnet.
Outgoing board members Robert Walker, Sheila Taylor and John McManus all decided not to run for re-election.
Vandalia council
The race for the third Vandalia City Council seat is down to 12 votes, according to the newly certified results. The race between Bob Ahlers, who has the lead, and Brent Jackson will be recounted.
Corey Follick and Constance Woods won the two other open seats.
Perry Twp. trustee
The race between Jason Hartshorn — who is winning by one vote after the results certified Tuesday — and Dale Seim will be recounted. Seim is the incumbent, and the two were tied in the unofficial results on election night.
Siem said he is a fifth-generation resident of Perry Twp. and has been a trustee since 2004.
“I have concerns about our cemeteries and roads,” Seim said.
Northridge school board
Jacinda Fugate and James Dillon are officially winners of the Northridge School Board race.
The third spot on the Northridge School Board is down to two votes. Angela Glassburn got 357 votes and Tina Fiore received 355, according to the results certified on Tuesday morning.
The race between these two will be recounted to confirm Glassburn’s win.
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