A recount is set for June 5 at the Montgomery County Board of Elections Office on West Third Street. In Ohio, any race where the final margin is less than 0.5% gets a recount. The public is invited to attend.
At the end of the election night count, voters seemed to be approving the 6.9 mill property tax levy but by just 10 votes, with 2,715 votes in favor and 2,705 votes opposed. After that vote, there were 35 votes remaining from absentee, provisional and curbside votes.
The board of elections has to make sure all of those votes are valid before they could be counted and will check to make sure the vote is correct. Because of the narrow margin of votes, Ohio law requires a recount, with an audit taking place the same day.
Jason Enix, the Huber Heights superintendent, said the district would wait for the results of the recount.
“We’re still in the waiting game before there’s anything official that happens,” Enix said.
Huber Heights Board of Education approved extensive cuts totaling $7.3 million if the ballot initiative didn’t pass, including cutting more than 20 teaching positions, raising pay-to-play fees to $750 per student, increasing preschool tuition, cutting five assistant principals at the elementary school and one assistant principal at the junior high school.
Jeff Rezabek, the Montgomery County Board of Elections director, said it is possible but not probable that the results will flip during the recount.
“Generally, once you do that, sometimes it’s maybe one vote,” Rezabek said.
Board member Mohamed Al-Hamdani said the Huber Heights levy was an example of every vote mattering.
“I really will urge folks to – if you care about an issue, you care about something, go out and vote, because if you don’t, sometimes, you know, it can go either way,” he said.
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