XENIA — The final results of Issue 4, a .5 percent income tax renewal for Xenia Community Schools may not be known for a while.
Because the certified results were so close, an automatic recount was triggered. In addition, 93 ballots that were scanned and accounted for but not in the final tabulation were discovered which changed the projected outcome.
What was once a one-vote lead in favor of the tax renewal is now a dead heat with 6,302 votes for and against, Greene County Board of Elections Director Alisha Lampert confirmed Wednesday.
“This is why we have the recounts and the audits,” Lampert said. “We have all the paper trail and everything. That’s why we have the checks in place. We have so many checks and balances and that’s why we were able to discover that those had not been tabulated. That’s why we have a procedure in place so we can amend the unofficial or official.”
The board is currently in the process of recounting the Beavercreek street levy and will commence with the Xenia recount once the first recount is finished.
“Friday at the earliest,” Lampert said. “We have to go through all the early vote rolls and take out the ones that only pertain to Xenia.”
Because this is Lampert’s first recount with the board of elections, the Secretary of State’s Office has assigned an elections official to help.
“They just sent someone so that we had a full grasp of how to do it,” Lampert said.
According to Rob Nichols, a spokesperson for the secretary’s office, this process shows the safeguards to have an accurate vote count are effective.
“This is an example of the array of checks and balances in the system working as they are intended to work, and will be further buttressed when the counties perform their post-election audits to ensure the accuracy of the results,” Nichols said. “Our office is currently working with the Greene County board to help answer any questions they may have.”
