By Kimberly Gasuras
The results of one Bucyrus City Council race have changed while another is set for an automatic recount.
On the night of the election on Nov. 7, it appeared that the winner of the city’s fourth ward write-in race was incumbent Steve Pifer, but due to clerical errors, the winner of the race is actually newcomer, Andrew Schoch.
“On election night, we run the reports from the voting machines and add up the legal write-ins from the paper ballots. We then input them into a spreadsheet and when the results were transferred to the spreadsheet, they were entered incorrectly,” said Ruth Leuthold, director of the Crawford County Board of Elections.
Leuthold said on election night, the number of votes released for Pifer was transposed.
“He received 25 votes, but it was entered as 52 votes,” Leuthold said.
The official final tally, which includes provisional ballots after they are certified, for the fourth ward left Schoch as the winner with 65 votes, 26 total votes for Pifer and three for the other newcomer in the race, James Seigneur.
“It was an unexpected phone call and I am very excited. I am thankful to have been chosen by the voters and look forward to getting to work and making the best decisions possible for the city and the residents of ward four,” said Schoch, a husband and father of seven who operates the Nationwide Insurance Andrew Schoch Agency in Bucyrus.
An automatic recount will take place at 9 a.m. on Dec. 1 for the Bucyrus City Council-at-Large race in which there were three seats up for grabs.
“Kevin Myers and Mark Makeever are declared winners. The recount will be for the other four candidates,” Leuthold said.
Those candidates include incumbent Dan Wirebaugh, newcomer Jeff Norman, incumbent Daniel Ross and newcomer Cheryl Sipe.
Wirebaugh received a total of 898 votes while Norman received 888.
“Since the results fall under the one-half of one percent between Wirebaugh and Norman, a recount must be completed,” Leuthold said.
Although the final count of votes in the race for Bucyrus City Council reveal that Garnet “Sis” Love still is the winner, her opponent Kurt Fankhauser said he will be paying for a recount.
“Considering the initial mistake during the vote counting of Ward 4 and the outcome of that changing, I think as close as this race is that I should request the recount,” Fankhauser said on Wednesday.
Leuthold said there are nine precincts in Bucyrus and to request a recount that does not fall under the guidelines of an automatic recount like the council-at-large race does, Fankhauser will have to pay $60 per each precinct in which he requests the votes to be recounted.
The official vote count from the council president race show Love as the winner with 1,134 votes and Fankhauser coming in at 1,105, a difference of 29 votes.