Ohio House District 44 remains undecided after Election Day, with Republican Ed Schimmel leading Democrat Dave Fournier by just 56 votes in unofficial results — and provisional ballots still to be counted could decide the seat.

Schimmel has 26,612 votes (47.97%) to Fournier’s 26,556 votes (47.87%), a gap of about 0.10% of the 55,481 votes counted so far, according to Decision Desk HQ results updated Nov. 5. Independent Lyndsey Stough has 2,313 votes (4.17%). 13abc reported on Nov. 6 that the race had not been called, with 56 votes separating Fournier and Schimmel.

The district covers Sylvania, Rossford, Northwood, Perrysburg Township and surrounding townships, spanning portions of Lucas, Wood and Ottawa counties in northwest Ohio.

Three candidates were on the ballot. Fournier, a Democrat and attorney, and Schimmel, a Republican who has served as mayor of Northwood since 2016 and is a practicing attorney and fifth-generation farmer, were the two leading candidates. Stough ran as an Independent.

The seat was open. Outgoing Rep. Josh Williams decided not to seek re-election, opting instead to run for Ohio’s 9th Congressional District, where he lost in the primary.

What happens next will determine the outcome. County election officials are reviewing provisional ballots to determine voter eligibility. Voters who cast a provisional ballot because they lacked proper identification on Election Day can verify their identity so their vote can count, a process known as curing a ballot.

Under Ohio law, county boards of elections begin the official canvass between five and 15 days after Election Day and must certify results within 21 days, according to the Ohio Secretary of State. The current margin of about 0.10% falls well within Ohio’s 0.5% automatic-recount trigger, so a recount is possible if the margin remains that close after the canvass.

Until the canvass is complete and results are certified, the outcome remains unofficial and no winner has been declared.

For more on the candidates, see the Toledo Free Press voter guides for Dave Fournier and Ed Schimmel.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons (Ohio Statehouse, Columbus)