SIDNEY — The addition of 45 votes — six absentee and 39 provisional — didn’t change the result of the Aug. 2 special election where Sidney City Schools asked voters to approve a 3-mill 5-year permanent improvement levy.
The vote was certified Monday morning by the Shelby County Board of Elections. The official results of the levy was 1,500 (46 percent) for the levy and 1,756 (54 percent) against the levy. On election day, the unofficial result was 1,472 for the levy and 1,739 against the levy.
Prior to the vote being certified, the board of elections board members — Chris Gibbs, Merrill Asher, Chuck Craynon and John Baker — approved absentee and provisional ballots as presented by Dawn Billing, director. There were six absentee ballots which Billing asked the board to approve and one she asked the board to reject.
The six ballots had the incorrect date of birth of the voter, said Billing. Letters were sent to the six people asking them to correct it before the Aug. 12 deadline. Four of the people responded, while the other two didn’t.
After reviewing the regulations which state which ballots can be accepted, the board determined that the two people who didn’t respond should still have their votes counted as the month and day of the birthday on the envelopes was correct. The only thing incorrect was the year.
The one absentee ballot that was rejected didn’t have an ID envelope included with the ballot.
A total of 41 provisional ballots were reviewed. Billing asked two ballots to be rejected because neither person was a registered voter.
The other 39 ballots, she said, met all the criteria and recommended they be counted in the election total. On election day, there were 32 provisional ballots. They other nine provisional ballots were from people who voted early at the board of elections office.
After the absentee and provisional ballots were approved, all of the ballots from the Aug. 2 election were counted again for the final total.
“None of the races changed,” said Gibbs. “The vote results are now certified.”
In conjunction with the special election, the board bills for Barrett Brothers for the precinct kits, $300.80; extra help for the special election, $1,182.60; and presiding judges/poll workers, $10,012.
In preparation for the November election, the board reviewed the draft of issues to appear on the Nov. 8 election.
Issues include:
• Two county-wide initiative authorizing the commissioners to have the authority to aggregate the retail natural gas loads and another for retail electric loads located in the unincorporated governmental boundaries of Shelby County, and enter into service agreements to facilitate for those loads the sale and purchase of natural gas and electric, with aggregation to occur automatically except where the person elects to opt out.
• Sidney City Schools: 3-mill, 5-year permanent improvement levy.
• Houston Fire District, Loramie Township: 1-mill, 5-year tax renewal for the fire district.
• Village of Anna: .25 percent levy increase on income for the village police department.
• Village of Anna: two issues dealing with authority to aggregate the retail natural gas loads and another for retail electric loads located in the village, and enter into service agreements to facilitiate for those loads the sale and purchase of natural gas and electric, with aggregation to occur automatically except where the person elects to opt out.
• Village of Fort Loramie: renewal of a 1.15-mill, 5-year tax for the purpose of current operating expenses.
• Salem Township (excluding village of Port Jefferson): renewal of a 2-mill, 5-year tax for the benefit of Salem Township for general construction, reconstruction, resurfacing and repair of roads.
• Washington Township (excluding village of Lockington): renewal of a 2-mill, 5-year tax for the operation of the fire department.
• Van Buren Township: renewal of a 2-mill, 5-year tax levy for the purpose of fire protection.
• Van Buren Township (excluding village of Kettlersville): renewal of a 3-mill, 5-year tax for general construction, reconstruction, resurfacing and repair of roads and streets.
• Franklin Township: renewal of a .3 mill and an increase of a .4 mill, each for five years, for the ambulance and emergency medical services for the township.
In other business, the board:
• Discussed Thursday’s meeting with Knowink, Votec and Election Systems & Software. Each company will do a presentation on their electronic pollbook. The precinct judges have been invited to attend the meeting also.
• Reviewed the discussion about the polling place at the VFW. Asher told the board that the VFW is negotiating with one party about a proposed sale of the property. Asher said he’s not worried about the location for a polling place in November but the board might investigate a backup location for the May election.
• Learned that Gibbs wants to write a guest column for the Sidney Daily news beginning in August to discuss the upcoming November election.
The board’s next meeting will be Monday, Sept. 19, at 7 a.m.
