By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The races for both of Wood County’s state representative seats remain too close to call. It will be nearly two weeks until winners can be declared … and that’s if recounts aren’t required.
Much of Wood County is included in the 75th House District, while the northeastern corner of the county is in the 44th House District. In both of those races, the Republicans hold slight leads.
The unofficial vote count in the 75th House District has incumbent Republican Haraz Ghanbari leading by 126 votes:
- Haraz Ghanbari: 23,193 (50.14%)
- Rick Rettig: 23,067 (49.86%)
But Wood County still has 1,355 provisional ballots to be counted, according to Julie Baumgardner, co-director of the Wood County Board of Elections.
Voters who showed up to cast their ballots with expired or unaccepted identification, who then had to vote provisional ballots, have through Saturday to “cure” their ballots by bringing items such as renewed driver’s licenses to the Board of Elections, which will be open Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Of the 1,355 provisional ballots yet to be counted in Wood County, it is unknown how many are from voters in 75th or the 44th districts, Baumgardner said. It is likely the majority of the provisional ballots are in the 75th District since many were cast in the Bowling Green State University precinct, she said.
The race in House District 44 in northern Wood County is split by just 56 votes. Republican Ed Schimmel currently has 47.97% of the vote, while Democrat David Fournier has 47.87%. That district includes parts of Wood, Lucas and Ottawa counties.
The Wood County Board of Elections will hold a meeting to accept the approved provisional ballots on Nov. 17, at 8:30 a.m. Those ballots will then be counted. The board will meet again on Nov. 18, at 8:30 a.m., to certify the results with the provisionals added in.
A recount will be automatically triggered if the tallies are within 0.5% of the votes cast in those races. Baumgardner explained that using the current unofficial counts (without the provisionals being added in) a recount would be required if 232 or fewer votes separated the Ghanbari-Rettig race.
