It's official, the final vote count is in. Wednesday afternoon, the Franklin County Board of Elections certified the official result's from the November 2nd election.
The official vote count includes overseas ballots, absentees, and provisional ballots. Elections board director Matthew Damshroder says the number are different from the unofficial tally reported right after the election.
But, the outcome didn't change for a single issue, bond measure, or candidate race in Franklin county. The Gahana precinct that had recorded some 4,000 extra votes for president Bush saw its totals corrected. And the provisional votes were added in. Damshroder says that of the more than 14,000 provisional ballots cast, more than 12,000 of them were counted.
Provisional voters favored senator Kerry. The most common reason for a provisional ballot to be rejected was that the voter wasn't actually registered to vote. The other major reason for rejection was people voting in the wrong precinct. Some 600 votes were denied for that reason. After the board signed the official vote certification, the paperwork was delivered to the Secretary of State's Office. Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell is expected to certify the election statewide on Monday. Law suits and official requests for a recount are expected.
