SIDNEY — Two incumbents will be on the ballot in November, as both received the unofficial Republican nomination from voters during Tuesday’s primary election. Few residents were present at the Shelby County Board of Elections as the results started coming in.
Incumbent Nino Vitale, of Urbana, defeated Justin Griffis, of Sidney, Joe Ratermann, of Sidney, and Rochiel Foulk, of Urbana, in the Ohio House of Representatives 85th District race.
In Shelby County, Vitale received 1,699 votes or 60.06 of all votes cast. Griffis received 635 votes, Ratermann, 429 votes, and Foulk, 66 votes. In Champaign County, Vitale received 3,597 votes; Ratermann, 438 votes, Griffis, 326 votes, and Foulk, 760 votes. Vitale will face Democrat Garrett Baldwin, of Mechanicsburg, in November.
In the 84th House race, Aaron Heilers, of Anna, received the most votes in Shelby County, but it wasn’t enough to win the nomination. Heilers received 1,481 votes, Travis Faber, of Celina, got 478 votes, and Susan Manchester, of Waynesfield, received 606 votes. The Lima News reported that the winner of the whole district was Manchester, who will face Democrat Joe Monbeck, of St. Marys, in November. Results from Mercer, Auglaize and Darke County weren’t available at press time.
The 84th District includes all of Mercer County and parts of Darke and Shelby counties. The 85th District includes all of Champaign County and parts of Logan and Shelby counties.
In the U.S. House 4th District race, Republican incumbent Jim Jordan, of Urbana, faced opposition from Joseph Miller, of Marion. In the Democratic race, Janet Garrett and Cody Slatzer-Rose faced off. The winner of each race will face one another in November.
In Shelby County, Jordan received 4,888 votes to Miller’s 520 votes. In Champaign County, Jordan received 4,838 votes to Miller’s 620 votes. Results from the other counties in the 4th District were not available at press time.
Jordan will face Democrat Janet Garrett in the November election. In Shelby County, Garret had 643 votes, while her opponents Leah Sellers had 236 and Cody James Slatzer-Rose had 177 votes.
The renewal of the Jackson Center Local Schools District income tax levy was approved by a 254 to 177 vote.
“The election went well,” said Shelby County Board of Elections Chairman Chris Gibbs. “This was the first time out for our new director (Pam Kerrigan) and second time out for the assistant director (Donnie Chupp).
“We had some growing pains, but everyone performed flawlessly,” he said. “The poll workers stepped up and are adapting to the e-poll books. The first precinct was in a little after 8 p.m. and we were done at 9:20 p.m.”
There are 30 absentee ballots and 60 provisional ballots still to be counted.
The election will be certified May 21 at 7:30 a.m.
Additional results will be published in Thursday’s Sidney Daily News.