Board of Elections certifies Aug. 2 vote

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SIDNEY – The Shelby County Board of Elections met Monday morning to certify the Aug. 2 special election.

Before certifying the election results for Shelby County, the BOE had to approve or reject the provisional ballots. The board moved to accept 29 of the 34 ballots; three of the five rejected were missing the voter’s address (2) or date of birth (1). The other two ballots were sent in by unregistered voters.

Monday, the BOE also approved or rejected absentee ballots. A total of six absentee ballots were presented to the board. Three absentee ballots were rejected due to late arrival or lack of a signature. The other three were approved for inclusion in the vote.

Shelby County BOE also received a ballot from a 17-year-old. The ballot was approved for inclusion in the election.

The official results from the Aug. 2 special election were certified for Shelby County.

There are 32,580 registered voters in Shelby County, 4,502 of which cast their ballots, giving Shelby County a voter turnout of 13.82% in the August primary election.

Richard C. Kerns ran unopposed for the male democrat member of the State Central Committee and received 467 votes.

Tanna Rutschilling and Karen F. Ward both ran for the seat as the woman democrat on the State Central Committee. With 363 votes, Ward was elected to sit on the State Central Committee while Rutschilling received 131 votes.

There was no democratic candidate for State Representative.

Male republicans running for the State Central Committee were Keith Cheney, Jake Ellerman and George Andy Roberts. With 1,975 votes Jake Ellerman won the election in Shelby County. Cheney had 1,740 votes and Roberts received 132 votes.

The republican women running for the State Central Committee were Katie DeLand and Stephanie Kremer. Kremer won the seat with 2,007 votes while DeLand received 1,813 votes.

Republican candidates for State Representative included Tim Barhorst, Rochiel Foulk and Lilli Johnson Vitale. Barhorst won the Shelby County’s election with 2,554 votes and will run unopposed in the November Primary. Foulk received 141 votes and Vitale had 1,276 votes in Shelby County.

After the election, Barhorst thanked everyone who voted for him.

“I knocked on a lot doors,” said Barhorst. “We knocked on 2,200-2,300 doors. We targeted specific doors of those who would be voting.

The unofficial vote showed Barhorst winning all three counties of the district.

He will be unopposed in November.

“I plan on getting together with the constituents and elected officials before I take office,” said Barhorst. “This will give me a head start since I won’t have to campaign (for November election).”

Barhorst said he’s a hometown boy and won’t abuse the trust the voters have placed in him.

These results are from Shelby County. Logan and Champaign Counties elections will be certified later this week.

Public records requests forms and policies will be changing. Rather than following their own policy the BOE will be using the county’s form and policy which they will discuss further during their meeting Aug. 29 to audit the election.

In other business, the board:

• Discussed petitions, questions and issues on the November ballot. All issues were approved for the ballot

• Approved Perry Township Trustee candidacy of Fred Favors. He was appointed to the position and is required to run for office.

• Discussed voting poll locations for November.

• Planned an executive session on Sept. 12 to discuss the elections administrative plans. The BOE will be going into executive session to discuss security issues.

By Amantha Garpiel

[email protected]

Melanie Speicher contributed to this report.

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