However, Tuesdays’s results are will not be considered the official final results until the Montgomery County Board of Elections has a chance to process all provisional ballots and collect any last-minute absentee ballots. Absentee ballots needed to be postmarked by no later than Monday before election day to be considered for a valid vote.
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The official final result with be announced by the board of elections on Nov. 26 at 8:30 a.m.
Once all votes are in and a final result is settled, if the margin is less than half of one percent, the board of elections will conduct an automatic recount. Candidates will then be informed that the certified results will go through a recount and on what date, so that candidates have the opportunity to have a representative present, or witness the recount themselves, if they choose.
If the margin is more than one half of one percent but still less than one percent, candidates will have five days to decide if they want to pay for a recount. The cost for an optional recount is based on how many precincts are in the district.
As McDonald and Page wait for a final result, McDonald said she has loved being mayor and will accept whatever the final outcome may be.
“I feel great,” McDonald said. “I worked really hard for 14 years for Trotwood and I am so OK with whatever the voters and finals count is. I absolutely love and enjoy being the mayor and it is a lot of hard work. ... “I thought I ran a very honorable, clean campaign. I felt that with dealing with the tornado, the day to day of being mayor and having job of my own, I really put in a lot of time.”
Having a co-operational relationship with colleagues on the other side of the aisle in Columbus has been used against her at times during the campaign, McDonald said.
“When you have people up there making your character something that it’s not, people sometime want to believe that,” McDonald said. “I worked so hard for Trotwood, that it’s beneath me to convince people that I’m Democrat. All my life I’ve been a registered Democrat, but I’ve always reached across the aisle. The governor is my friend and so many good things come from having the right kind of relationship.”
Challenger Page was confident Tuesday night after the unofficial final results were in.
“Nobody thought I had a chance in this race at all, but I did,” Page said. “Everybody thought I didn’t have the experience, but what they didn’t know was that I had the history. I had Trotwood being here for 41 years. I knew my community, I knew what the tornado did.”
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