Lucas County Election Board Called Its Own Results Delay “Unacceptable” — Here’s What Happened
TOLEDO, Ohio — The Lucas County Board of Elections apologized at a meeting Wednesday morning for its election-night results delay, calling the delay “unacceptable” and saying it “is not fair to the candidates or voters,” according to 13abc.
Lucas County was the only one of Ohio’s 88 counties reporting zero results as of 12:30 a.m. Wednesday. The county did not report any results until nearly 2 a.m. Wednesday, hours after every other county had begun posting returns.
The board chairman attributed the delay to late-arriving absentee ballots, which were counted once and then recounted. With Ohio’s four-day mail-in grace period eliminated and the Secretary of State directing that all valid absentee ballots be returned by the end of Election Day, absentee ballots had to be counted first, the chairman said.
Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz needled the board on Facebook Tuesday night as Lucas County sat empty on the statewide results page: “87 of Ohio’s 88 counties have managed to report election results tonight. Should we be checking the fax machine, smoke signals, or the carrier pigeons?” (See the mayor’s Facebook post.)
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur also blamed the delay at her watch party Tuesday night and said Lucas County turnout was the best in 28 years, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. Kaptur defeated former state Rep. Derek Merrin to win a 23rd term in Ohio’s 9th District.
The results remain unofficial until the Lucas County Board of Elections certifies them.
Related: Morning briefing: Kaptur wins OH-09, Lucas County explains the delay and election night’s aftermath
Image: Wikimedia Commons.
