XENIA — The final result of the .5 percent income tax renewal for Xenia Community Schools is expected to be made official Monday.
Because the results were so close, an automatic recount was triggered. That recount has been ongoing all week and Friday afternoon Board of Elections Director Alisha Lampert sent an email indicating that the board would reconvene on the recount at 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 12. The board also announced a special meeting Wednesday, Dec. 14.
No other information was provided, however XCS Superintendent Dr. Gabe Lofton told the Gazette on Friday that he received a voice mail from the board of elections stating that the recount and final tally would be certified Monday.
The income tax is currently tied with 6,302 votes for and against. Greene County results had it failing by one vote on election night, but once the votes for Warren County — which has a small portion in the Xenia school district — were added, it was passing by one vote. Then after the results were certified, 93 ballots that were scanned and accounted for but not included the final tabulation due to human error were discovered. Those votes created the tie.
“This is why we have the recounts and the audits,” Lampert previously 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 Secretary of State’s Office assigned an elections official to help because it’s Lampert’s first recount as director.
“They just sent someone so that we had a full grasp of how to do it,” Lampert said.
