Whitehall City Council Member Lori Elmore will retain her seat after the Franklin County Board of Elections voted Monday to certify the results of a special election that was held on June 23.
The board considered whether 31 remaining ballots cast in the election, which were mostly provisional ballots, should count. The results showed Elmore leads by eight votes compared with losing by six votes in the initial, unofficial vote count after Election Day.
Voters were asked on the ballot to vote “Yes” if they wanted Elmore, City Council Member Amy Harcar and Mayor Michael Bivens to keep their seats or “No” if they wanted the three officials to be kicked out of office.
The "Yes" votes for Elmore lead with 1,094 votes to 1,086 "No" votes after the remaining ballots were certified.
That margin remains within the automatic recount territory. That recount will take place on July 7.
Elmore and her three colleagues celebrated the official results in a statement to WOSU.
"Thank you to the residents of Whitehall. I am grateful for your trust in my leadership as a member of Whitehall City Council. I will continue giving you the best of me. As I stated before, what the Lord has for me is for me and I will continue to lift up this great city, in whatever capacity the Lord has for me. We now wait for the official results of the final recount on July 7," Elmore said.
Of the 31 ballots, one was an overseas ballot, another was an absentee ballot, while the remaining 29 were provisional ballots.
The board voted to approve 24 of the 29 provisional ballots. Franklin County Board of Elections Director Antone White said neither the overseas wasn't returned and the absentee ballot had an issue that wasn't cured in time.
Board of elections staff said five of the provisional ballots were rejected either because the voters weren't registered to vote or because they didn't provide valid photo ID.
Two voters who didn't present valid photo ID were given a four-day "cure" period to bring in their IDs, but those two didn't show up to do so. The two voters were also contacted.
Board of elections staff did say another voter who was in the same situation, was contacted and showed up with a photo ID to get his ballot cured.
Marie Long of Whitehall attended Monday's meeting wearing a campaign shirt in support of the three elected officials. She said she didn't believe the recall petitioners presented a valid reason for trying to recall the three.
"Our city had good bones. Our city, because of our mayor and everybody that works with him, we have good bones, along with our police chief," Long said.
Bivens had already celebrated his victory on Election Day. In a statement Monday he said he stands with Elmore.
“Councilmember Lori Elmore’s record speaks for itself. I stand with her as this goes to a recount. We continue to put our focus on transparency, community engagement, infrastructure, neighborhoods and uplifting the residents of Whitehall. We believe Lori will prevail as the final ballot count is officially reported on July 7," Bivens said.
The additional ballots didn't change results for Bivens, who led by 99 votes after the election. Harcar's election extended to a lead of 45 votes.
What led to the Whitehall special election?
A group of recall petition organizers gathered enough signatures to force a recall election against the three earlier this year.
Patricia Balser, one of the main organizers, said that she and others were frustrated over the city’s push for denser rental housing among other issues including conduct at council meetings and disagreements over the city's fiscal policies. Balser and her allies also cited a longstanding feud between the Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge #9 and Whitehall Division of Police Chief Mike Crispen.
Bivens, Elmore and Harcar campaigned as one team, arguing they didn't see a valid reason for the recall effort. The three claimed the effort was motivated by racism against the city's first Black mayor and city council member, which recall organizers denied.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
