(Photo by Michelle Dillon) From left, Washington County Board of Elections Members Adam Schwendeman, Robin Bozian and Khadine Ritter and Board of Elections Chair Dennis Sipe sign paperwork to certify the results of the Nov. 5 general election Tuesday afternoon.

The Washington County Board of Elections conducted its official canvass of the Nov. 5 general election and certified the results and set the date for an automatic recount of a New Matamoras Sunday liquor sales question.

On election night unofficial results showed a tie vote of 156-156 for the question of whether Par Mar Store 4, located at 1300 State Route 7 in New Matamoras, would be allowed to sell liquor on Sundays and after the board conducted the official canvass of the votes 8 a.m. Tuesday and accepted or rejected all provisional and absentee ballots, the official vote showed the question passing by one vote, which triggers an automatic recount that the board scheduled for 8 a.m. Nov. 20 at its office.

The vote for the question was 157 yes votes, or 50.16%, and 156 no votes, or 49.85%, according to the official election results provided by the board. Recounts happen if the results of a vote for an issue or candidate are less than 0.5% (one half of one percent) difference, according to Board of Elections Director Mandi Amos.

The recount will be done by hand, according to Board of Elections Deputy Director Karen Pawloski, and once it is completed if the vote is still 157-156 then the question will pass.

“I’ll be surprised if there is a change,” Board of Elections Chair Dennis Sipe said about the recount.

Voter turnout in Washington County for the Nov. 5 general election was less than it was for the 2020 general election, Pawloski said.

Washington County has 42,814 registered voters and 72.28% of them turned out for the Nov. 5 general election, according to the official election results from the board. For the 2020 general election, according to the board’s website, there were 42,773 registered voters and 75.62% of them turned out.

The 2024 general election saw the board receive 702 provisional ballot, 190 of which the board rejected and 4,443 absentee ballots, 39 of which the board rejected,

Amos previously told The Times provisional ballots are ballots that are not processed on election night due to issues like a voter not updating their name or address, a voter not having the required ID when voting or a voter being registered in one county and moving to Washington County and not updating the voter registration information. Absentee ballots are ballots that voters request in the mail and then return to the board of elections and that issues that show up with absentee ballots are related to the information voters enter on the identification envelope that is required to be returned with an absentee ballot.

Voters had until Nov. 9 to fix, or cure, any issues with absentee or provisional ballots, Amos told The Times during election week, and the board’s website said absentee ballots had to be postmarked no later than the day before the election and received through the mail no later than four days after the election. Absentee ballots given to the board in-person had to be received not later than 7:30 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.

One issue that Pawloski saw a lot of involved people not being registered and coming to vote.

“There were a lot of people that came and voted that weren’t registered” she said, adding 140 people who did so were not registered in the state of Ohio.

She said some of them may have been registered at some time but were purged.

The bi-partisan members of the Board of Elections, Adam Schwendeman, Robin Bozian and Khadine Ritter and Board Chair Dennis Sipe unanimously voted Tuesday afternoon to certify the results of the election.

“We’ve completed the official canvass for the general election,” Sipe said after the vote.

The board set a date for auditing the votes from the 2024 general election. They set it for 8 a.m. Nov. 20 to coincide with the recount for the liquor question.

Pawloski said the state requires boards of elections to audit 5% of the votes it counts, which in the Washington County Board of Elections’ case would be 1,569 votes.

The board randomly drew the name of precincts out of a box until they had enough precincts to have at least 1,569 votes to audit.

The precincts randomly selected were: Marietta 4C, Independence, Marietta 2A and Belpre 1A, whose total votes counted were 1,883.

“We are doing that by hand count,” Pawloski said of the audit.

The official election results certified by the Washington County Board of Elections are as follows:

President and Vice President:

*Richard Duncan/Mitchell Preston (Nonparty) – 76, 0.24%

*Kamala D. Harris/Tim Walz (Democrat) – 8,600, 27.63%

*Chase Oliver/Mike ter Maat (Other Party) – 124, 0.40%

*Peter Sonski/Lauren Onak (Other Party) – 39, 0.13%

*JIll Stein/Anita Rios -(Other Party) – 73, 0.23%

*Donald J. Trump/JD Vance (Republican) – 22,161, 71.20%

*Claudia De la Cruz/Karina Garcia (Other Party) – 2, 0.01%

*Write-in, No names listed in results – 48, 0.15%

Justice of the Supreme Court FTC Jan. 1, 2022:

*Michael P. Donelly (Democrat) – 8,423, 28.67%

*Megan E. Shanahan (Republican) – 20,953, 71.33%

Justice of the Supreme Court FTC Jan. 1, 2025:

*Joseph T. Deters (Republican) – 20,146, 69.71%

*Melody J. Stewart (Democrat) – 8,752, 30.29%

Justice of the Supreme Court UTE 12-31-2026:

*Lisa Forbes (Democrat) – 8,436, 29.05%

*Daniel R. Hawkins (Republican) – 20,600, 70.95%

U.S. Senator:

*Sherrod Brown (Democrat) – 9,275, 30.69%

*Don Kissick (Libertarian) – 1,061, 3.51%

*Bernie Moreno (Republican) – 19,865, 65.73%

*Write-In, No names listed in results – 20, 0.07%

Representative to Congress – 6th District:

*Michael L. Kripchak (Democrat) – 8,679, 29.42%

*Michael A. Rulli (Republican) – 20,826, 70.58%

State Senator – 30th District:

*Brian M. Chavez (Republican) – 21,721, 73.28%

*Ari (Iva) Faber (Democrat) – 7,920, 26.72%

State Representative – 94th District:

*Kevin Ritter (Republican) – 21,940, 73.14%

*Wenda Sheard (Democrat) – 8,036, 26.79%

*Andrea M. Neutzling (Write-in) – 6, 0.02%

*Write-In, No names listed in results – 16, 0.05%

Judge of the Court of Appeals – 4th District FTC Feb. 9, 2025:

*Jason P. Smith (Republican) 23,757, 100%

Judge fo the Court of Appeals – 4th District FTC Feb. 10, 2025:

*Mike Hess (Republican) – 22,804, 100%

County Commissioner FTC Jan. 2, 2025:

*James Booth (Republican) – 22,689, 100%

County Commissioner FTC Jan. 3, 2025:

*Charles L. Schilling, Ii (Republican) – 23,135, 100%

Prosecuting Attorney:

*Nicole Tipton Coil (Republican) – 23,123, 100%

Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas:

*Alicia C. Cannon (Republican) – 22,586, 100%

Sheriff:

*Mark A. Warden (Republican) – 24,208, 100%

County Recorder:

*Teresa D. Juson (Republican) – 18,394, 63.01%

*Tracey C. Wright (Democrat) – 10,800 36.99%

Treasurer:

*Tammy L. Bates (Republican) – 24,390, 100%

County Engineer:

*Roger E. Wright (Republican) – 23,543, 100%

Coroner:

*Roxanne M. Cech (Republican) – 23,736, 100%

Member of State Board of Education – 8th District:

*Karen A. Lloyd – 19,530, 100%

Judge of the Court of Common Pleas FTC Jan. 1, 2025:

*John M. Halliday – 22,023, 100%

Issue 1 (Redistricting Amendment):

*Yes – 10,591, 35.82%

*No – 19,139, 64.38%

Proposed Additional Tax Levy – Current Expenses 2 Mills/5 Years – Matamoras Village:

*For the Tax Levy – 126, 40.51%

*Against the Tax Levy – 185, 59.49%

Proposed Additional Tax Levy – Cemeteries 1 Mill/4 Years – Salem Township:

*For the Tax Levy – 299, 52%

*Against the Tax Levy – 276, 48%

Proposed Additional Tax Levy – Cemeteries 1 Mill/4 Years – Wesley Township:

*For the Tax Levy – 161, 39.17%

*Against the Tax Levy – 250, 60.83%

Proposed Replacement Tax Levy – Fire/EMS 1 Mill/5 Years – Fearing Township:

*For the Tax Levy – 372, 77.02%

*Against the Tax Levy – 111, 22.98%

Proposed Additional Tax Levy – Fire EMS 2 Mills/10 Years – Grandview Township:

*For the Tax Levy – 347, 52.18%

*Against the Tax Levy – 318, 47.82%

Proposed Additional Tax Levy – Fire/EMS 3.18 Mills/10 Years – Belpre City Schools

*For the Tax Levy – 2,369, 53.95%

*Against the Tax Levy – 2,022, 46.05%

Local Liquor Option – Par Mar Store 4 – New Matamoras:

*Yes – 171, 54.46%

*No – 143, 45.54%