School Board Seat Winner To Be Decided By Recount

BY KAREN GERHARDINGER | MIRROR REPORTER — One vote. For now, that’s all that separates two candidates from one seat on the Anthony Wayne Board of Education.

Troy Lutz, who was appointed to the board in April, currently has 2,096 votes. Andrew Prine has 2,095 votes. The men were among five candidates for two open seats on the board. Kyle Miller won the top spot with an unofficial count of 2,619 votes, but the second seat is seemingly up for grabs.

The Lucas County Board of Elections still needs to count provisional and absentee ballots before certifying the results on Friday, November 19, said deputy director Tim Monaco. Yet it’s not just Lucas County that votes for the AW Board of Educa-tion. In Fulton County, one person is qualified to vote but did not participate. In Wood County’s Middle-town Township, 127 of the 762 registered voters went to the polls. 

“The Secretary of State will need to call a recount as this is a multi-county district,” Monaco said. “We cannot schedule the recount until the Secretary of State calls the date.”

Monaco said the rule of law is that generally when the margin is .5 percent, a recount is needed. Right now, Lutz and Prine are separated by less than .02 percent.

The Mirror sought comment from both candidates and Lutz, who spoke to Monaco the day after the election, shared his thoughts.

“This election has proven to be very exciting, start to finish. Hopefully, we’re all learning about the process, especially as it relates to our district. I think it’s great that we had so much turnout,” Lutz said. “I find it interesting just how close the race is, and I hope we all take the time to learn about the process but remain focused on our schools and what’s best for the staff, teachers and students.”

In the event of a tie, a decision will be made with a coin flip, Lutz learned. During a recount, one team of Democrats and one team of Republicans will recount the ballots.

In the Anthony Wayne area, the Republicans had the edge during the election, with most of their endorsed candidates winning positions.

In Whitehouse, longtime council member Bill May will end his run after former administrator and council member Dennis Recker took 24.6 percent of the vote. Recker was the only endorsed Republican. Incumbents Richard Bingham and Louann Artiaga held onto their seats with 21.74 percent and 19.58 percent of the votes, respectively. Bob Keogh, who was running unopposed for a two-year, unexpired term, was also re-elected.

In Monclova Township, both of the LCRP’s endorsements won seats. Barbara Lang was reelected with 35 percent and Trudy Yoder Vicary earned 25 percent of the vote. 

In Waterville Township, the only newcomer to the board of trustees will be Kim Anderson, who ran unopposed for one of two, four-year terms. She joins incumbents Kyle Hertzfeld and Julie Theroux, who took the two-year term with 66.44 percent of the votes over challenger Karen Schneider. Catherine Vorst ran unopposed for the job of fiscal officer.

In other townships and in the city of Waterville, the incumbents ran unopposed, so the results were no surprise. 

Voter turnout countywide averaged 22.9 percent, with 67,542 of the 294,495 registered voters taking to the polls. In the Anthony Wayne area, the turnout was slightly higher, between 24 and 30 percent.