MOUNT GILEAD — As absentee and early in-person votes were counted at the Board of Elections office Tuesday, Nov. 3 it quickly became clear that Republicans Tim Abraham and Tim Siegfried carried a comfortable lead.
Republicans also won the votes for state seats in both Morrow County and in the state for U.S. Representative, 26th State Senate District and 87th District State Representative.
For the Jan. 2, 2021 seat. Republican Tim Siegfried won with 13,251 votes to Democrat Michael Baker’s 4,082 votes. For the commissioner’s seat for Jan. 3, 2021, Republican Tim Abraham finished with 12,911 votes and Democrat Paul Hinkle with 4,082 votes.
For Representative to U.S. Congress, Republican Troy Balderson won 13,498 Morrow County votes to Democrat Alaina Shearer’s 3,691 votes. Jon Stewart received 546 votes.
State races
Republican Bill Reineke won the majority of 26th Senate District votes with 13,466 votes in Morrow County while Democrat Craig Swartz received 3,880 votes.
State Representative for 87th District, Republican incumbent Riordan McClain got 13,317 votes and Democrat challenger Nicholas Barnes received 4,003 votes.
The Morrow DD/Whetstone levy lost by 778 votes, with 8,442 for the levy and 9,220 against.
Library grateful
“This is an exciting time for the library,” announced Melissa Kipp, Library Director. “With the support of the voters in Mt. Gilead, we can now not only continue our excellence in service, but also deliver new, more and better things.”
Things, Kipp added, that will make the library a more efficient and enjoyable space.
Included in the plans are upgraded building infrastructure including a new HVAC system and updates to technology services.
More programs for all ages are in the works as are plans for freshening up the teen space on the 3rd floor.
“Especially in a hard economy like this,” Kipp added, “it’s a place where people can go, find resources and connect when they might be feeling lost.”
With the passage of the levy, Mount Gilead homeowners will continue to pay roughly $35 a year for every $100,000 of the home’s assessed value.
Record voting turnout
Board of Elections Director Penny Porter noted that 72.3 percent of the 25,186 registered voters in Morrow County voted in this 2020 general election. Porter added that was a much higher turnout for a general election than the past few elections.
She said that 67 percent of Morrow County registered voters voted in the 2016 election and 66 percent in the 2012 election.
Of the 18,201 Morrow County residents who voted in this election, 10,411 or 41.3 percent of registered voters voted by absentee ballot or early in-person voting. That meant that fewer persons voted at the polls Tuesday with 7,790 voting at the polls.
There are still 443 provisional ballots to be counted and possibly a few coming in late that are post marked Nov. 3.
No problems
Sheriff John Hinton was glad to report at the end of the day Tuesday that there were no problems in the county’s 33 precincts. All had reported in to the Board of Elections with their counts from the polls by 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
Ohio State University students Jacob Serio and Manny Heilman were two of four “IT Rovers” who helped with technology in the county to make sure voting ran smoothly.
“I was impressed with how well Morrow County does,” said Heilman who is a Northmor High School grad. “The county is constantly updating their technology for elections.”
