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Home > Blogs > Butler County News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > November > 05
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Local races unchanged after late count
UPDATE: The Butler Count Board of Elections finished counting the paper ballots last night. Here is the story. The final count didn’t change any races.
Previous blog:
With roughly 20,000 ballots still being counted in Butler County and an estimated 8,000 provisional ballots set aside to be counted later, local election officials say it’s unclear whether the winners and losers in any local races could change.
Here are the results to date for several local fire, EMS and school levies (vote total/percent):
Issue 9 MONROE PROPOSED ADVISORY
- NO: 2818/ 50.80%
- YES: 2729/ 49.20%
Issue 10 FFTWP TAX LEVY-FIRE
- FOR THE TAX LEVY: 5926/ 61.87%
- AGAINST THE TAX LEVY: 3652/ 38.13%
Issue 11 MORGAN TWP-TAX LEVY EMS
- FOR THE TAX LEVY: 1443/ 57.70%
- AGAINST THE TAX LEVY: 1058/ 42.30%
Issue 12 ST. CLAIR TWP FIRE
- FOR THE TAX LEVY: 1071/ 63.30%
- AGAINST THE TAX LEVY: 62%/ 36.70%
Issue 13 WAYNE TWP FIRE
- AGAINST THE TAX LEVY: 1054/ 52.62%
- FOR THE TAX LEVY: 949/ 47.38%
Issue 14 FAIRFIELD SCHLS TAX LEVY
- AGAINST THE TAX LEVY: 14160/ 51.96%
- FOR THE TAX LEVY:13092/ 48.04%
Issue 15 ROSS LOCAL SCHLS
- FOR: 3064/ 52.75%
- AGAINST: 2745/ 47.25%
Issue 16 TALAWANDA SCHLS-BOND ISSUE
- FOR: 6465/ 51.84%
- AGAINST: 6007/ 48.16%
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Board of Elections
Votes still being counted in Butler County
Counting continues into the night at the Butler County Board of Elections building, where workers are scanning roughly 20,000 ballots paper ballots uncounted Election Day.
On Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 5, more than 50 bleary-eyed election workers separated envelopes; opened them by hand; unfolded and stacked them; then ran them one-by-one through 20 scanning machines.
Meanwhile, they set aside roughly 8,000 provisional ballots to count later.
It was slow progress.
“Butler County is simply not equipped…to handle this type of volume of optical scan ballots,” said Board of Elections Director Betty McGary.
The problem is that Butler County is set up to vote on machines, and has a $6 million system that would have had all results tabulated by 11 p.m., McGary said.
But Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner issued an order this year requiring all counties in the state to allow voters to use paper ballots if they wish. This followed concerns with the reliability of voting machines, including a glitch in the March primary that initially left some votes uncounted.
McGary reported no problems with machines Tuesday, Nov. 4, but said many people opted for paper ballots because of long lines to use machines.
This was also true in in-office early voting, where election officials estimate 12 percent of voters opted for paper ballots. This includes Clifford Heidorn, 51, of Fairfield Twp., who said he did it “because the shorter line.”
Elections officials started receiving and sorting the paper ballots early Wednesday morning, and counted several thousand before reaching the staff’s human limits, McGary said.
The sent workers home at 6 a.m. and had them report back by 1 p.m. They’re expected to finish by 9 p.m.
“We were so overwhelmed with paperwork and the staff was so tired, they’d been there 24 hours from 5 a.m. to 5 a.m…. they were worn out,” said Deputy Board of Elections Director Lynn Kinkaid. “We will stay (today) for as long as it takes to finish up.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Presidential race
County to refund some of senior levy
Press release from the Butler County commissioner’s office:
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS TO REDUCE REAL ESTATE TAXES
The Butler County Board of Commissioners will reduce real estate taxes by temporarily lowering collections from the Elderly Services Levy. By lowering levy collections by approximately one-third in 2009, Butler County citizens will realize an approximate $5 million in tax savings.
The Board of Commissioners is taking this action in response to a previous projection of excess dollars from the Elderly Services Levy. The Council on Aging (COA), which administers the delivery of services to elderly clients in consultation with the Elderly Services Committee, expects an accumulation of Elderly Services Funds based upon the current programs in place and estimated client levels over this current levy horizon.
“The Board will continue to monitor program participation by our elderly population until October 2010 to determine if this reduction in collections should continue, if participation has changed or if additional programs are needed,” said Butler County Administrator Timothy Williams.
Due to the expected surplus, the temporary reduction in 2009 taxes will not create a financial shortage assuming the current level of clients served and programs administered remain the same. In addition, the Elderly Services Committee and the COA are studying new programs worthy of addition to the services. The county will review new programs before implementation to ensure they do not become an unwarranted burden on future levy levels and they demonstrate a strong likelihood of success.
The Board strongly supports the levy’s purpose of providing services that enable the elderly to remain self-sufficient in their own homes. The Board also supports the protection of the elderly from persons who subject them to abuse, neglect, unsafe or unhealthy conditions and predatory mistreatment.
Here’s the numbers, from the staff recommendation given to commissioners:
Here’s the background on the levy surplus.
What do you think?
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: County Commission
McCain, Republicans win Butler County
Voter turnout was far from the 80 percent elections officials were predicting Tuesday, Nov. 4.
In fact, the local results in the presidential race were similar to those in 2004.
According to the above story, turnout was 67 percent Tuesday compared to 70.99 percent in 2004.
Sen. John McCain carried Butler County with 90,356 votes, or 60.36 percent. Barack Obama, now president-elect, trailed with 57,068 votes, or 38.12 percent.
In 2004, Sen. John Kerry walked away with 56,234 votes, or 33.71 percent, in Butler County.
The results were very different on the state and national levels. This made for mixed emotions at the Butler County GOP headquarters last night. Said Butler County McCain Campaign Chairman Scott Owens:
“Obviously the voters have spoken on a national level and wanted a message of change…Butler County can again be proud to deliver a strong vote for the Republican nominee.”
And despite the tears and anguish I observed at the Republican office, there were also cheers as Republican held onto all but one local seat.
Said Tom Ellis, Butler County GOP chairman:
“We may not have brought Ohio in for McCain, but it was not for lack of trying and staying strong. While we may not have been successful on that level, we were certainly successful on the local level.”
What are your thoughts on these results?
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Presidential race
Romans succeeds where Zettler failed
Despite a vitriolic campaign and a state-funded war chest, Hamilton attorney Jack Zettler wasn’t able to become the only Democrat elected to countywide office by winning the auditor’s race. Roger Reynolds will keep that job.
But Judge Kathleen Romans will keep her post at Butler County juvenile judge. She is now the second Democratic judge in the county (Hamilton Municipal Judge Dan Gattermeyer is a Democrat), and the only Democrat elected countywide.
Why do you think she was able to pull it off? Did her campaign do something different or better than Zettler, or does it simply come down to her being an incumbent after being appointed by the governor and not having a “D” next to her name?
Do you think there’s any significance to this power shift? Judges don’t make policy, so they’re generally low-key as far as politicking goes, but they come in handy when it’s time to raise money.
What do you think?
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment | Categories: Democratic Party
