DAYTON — The Montgomery County Board of Elections has released the final results for the November 8th election, and it now appears a highly contested race has flipped giving the majority of the votes to the incumbent.
The race for Montgomery County Commission had previously thought to have been handed to Jordan Wortham, unseating incumbent Commissioner Carolyn Rice. However, with the final results issued on Nov. 29, the results show that Rice has retained her seat on the commission.
>> November 8th Election Results
The final results from the board of elections show that Rice won the commission race with 92,501 votes compared to Wortham’s 91,038 votes, which is a less than 1% of the vote.
“I am so thankful to have earned a second term as Montgomery County Commissioner. I appreciate deeply the level of trust and support that voters showed by re-electing me. To everyone who voted, “thank you, thank you, thank you” for your participation in our democracy. The last four years were very challenging to the community, and I believe I have the experience and knowledge to continue to contribute to Montgomery County’s progress,” Rice said.
At the end of election night on Nov. 8, Wortham held a 1,040-vote lead over Rice, but election officials cautioned that those were unofficial results with more votes to be counted before a winner was announced.
The Election Board on Tuesday tabulated more than 3,000 valid provisional ballots and about 6,300 absentee ballots that had been postmarked on time and arrived by the Nov. 18th deadline.
“I am so appreciative of the Board of Elections staff for their careful attention to the operation of the election and the counting of all the votes. I know that many staff put in long hours to make sure that these results are accurate and complete. I have total confidence in the results that were certified today,” Rice said.