Recount: Sampson wins Dayton board race; Trotwood’s McDonald re-elected

Trotwood Mayor Mary McDonald was reelected and Dion Sampson has won the third open seat on the Dayton Public School Board of Education.

These were two of five local races recounted Wednesday by the Montgomery County Board of Elections because of margins that were within .5 percentage points. If a race is within that margin, it calls for an automatic recount.

McDonald beat her challenger, Councilwoman Yvette Page, by six votes. Sampson had 6,468 votes to opponent Joe Lacey’s 6,467 votes.

“The citizens spoke and they let us know that there is still work to be done,” McDonald said. “I am excited to have the opportunity to serve Trotwood.”

Results from the recount will be certified at the Montgomery County Board of Elections meeting on Dec. 10.

EARLIER REPORT: Five races facing recount

Five percent of the votes cast in these races were recounted by hand. If those hand-counted votes matched previous results for those precincts, every ballot cast in that race was electronically recounted. The precincts that were recounted by hand were picked out of a fish bowl at the Nov. 26 meeting.

The board of elections would have to recount the entire race by hand if the results differed three times, said Steve Harsman, deputy director of the board of elections.

Harsman said it is unusual that there were so many races that needed to be recounted, but there are often races that need to be recounted in “odd” election years, where there is nothing statewide or presidential on the ballot and there is lower voter turnout.

Trotwood

McDonald finished just six votes ahead of Page.

Page had two more votes than McDonald in unofficial results on election night, but provisional ballots and mail-in absentee ballots had not been finalized then. Results certified before the recount were those unofficial results from Nov. 5 plus early voting, provisional and absentee ballots.

McDonald said she is proud to have gone through the recount process and now have a better understanding of the work that the board of elections does. The results showed that McDonald had 1,873 votes and Page received 1,867 votes.

McDonald said that she will continue to work to bring living wage jobs to the community.

“We know that economic development happens with jobs, so I’m going to work to bring jobs that pay a living wage to Trotwood so that citizens can get those restaurants and things that they say they want,” McDonald said.

McDonald also said she wants to work on the low voter turnout seen in this election.

“I want to work to put trust back in the elections so that we can get people out to the polls,” McDonald said.

Dayton Public Schools board

Sampson held his one vote lead on Lacey in the recount on Wednesday.

Sampson said he looks forward to serving the community for the next four years, but first he will listen and ask a lot of questions.

“I want to see how things have been done and see what works,” Sampson said.

Then, Sampson said he wants to work on establishing a more transparent culture on the school board and increase communication with the community. He also wants to work on bringing “the collective genius” from various parts of Dayton together.

“We need to galvanize what’s in our community so that we can reach our kids holistically,” Sampson said.

Will Smith and Gabriela Pickett were also elected to the board. Smith, Pickett and Sampson will take office in January.

Vandalia council

Bob Ahlers won the third seat for Vandalia City Council. Ahlers beat his opponent, Brent Jackson, by just 12 votes.

Corey Follick and Constance Woods won the two other open seats.

Perry Twp. trustee

Jason Hartshorn won the Perry Twp. trustee race by a single vote. Hartshorn beat incumbent Dale Seim.

The two were tied in the unofficial results on election night. The results to be certified next week show Hartshorn got 483 votes and Seim received 482 votes.

Northridge school board

Angela Glassburn’s win was confirmed through the recount on Wednesday.

Glassburn won over Tina Fiore by one vote.

James Dillion and Jacinda Fugate won the other school board seats up for election.

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