It's over. Don Plusquellic wins the nomination for a record seventh term as Mayor of Akron, and will face Jennifer Hensal in the general election in November.
The win for the Plusquellic camp is leading to a jubilant mood at his campaign at Guy's Party Center, but the election cycle was costly for two of his allies on Akron City Council. Ward 6 Councilman Bob Otterman and Ward 7 Councilwoman Tina Merlitti were both defeated in the primary. Bob Hoch will represent Ward 6 after coming from behind to overtake Otterman, while Donnie Kamer ran away with the Ward 7 race.
And in Barberton, incumbent Mayor Bob Genet down 57-43% to Bill Judge in the Democrat primary with nearly 80% of the vote counted. Genet started the night with a comfortable lead but as precincts started to trickle in to the Grant Street Board of Elections Judge began to extend his lead. Among the contested council races Gary Endres, Craig Megyes and Carol Frey won.
In the non-partisan race for Mayor of Stow, Sara Drew held on to her lead for most of the night and topped the four-candidate field with more than 47% of the vote. She'll face Scott Buck, who came in second with 32%, in the November general election. At-large council candidates John Pribonic, Mike Rasor and Bob Adaska won and Brian Lowdermilk took the Ward 3 council post.
SUMMARY REPORT Summit County, Ohio Final Unofficial Results
Run Date:09/13/11 Board of Elections
RUN TIME:10:05 PM 09/13/11 Primary Election
STATISTICS
VOTES PERCENT
PRECINCTS COUNTED (OF 206). . . . . 206 100.00
REGISTERED VOTERS - TOTAL . . . . . 158,642
REGISTERED VOTERS - DEMOCRATIC . . . 21,343 13.45
REGISTERED VOTERS - REPUBLICAN . . . 5,155 3.25
REGISTERED VOTERS - NONPARTISAN . . . 23,245 14.65
BALLOTS CAST - TOTAL. . . . . . . 30,862
BALLOTS CAST - DEMOCRATIC . . . . . 25,866 83.81
BALLOTS CAST - REPUBLICAN . . . . . 1,729 5.60
BALLOTS CAST - NONPARTISAN. . . . . 3,267 10.59
VOTER TURNOUT - TOTAL . . . . . . 19.45
VOTER TURNOUT - DEMOCRATIC. . . . .
VOTER TURNOUT - REPUBLICAN. . . . . 33.54
VOTER TURNOUT - NONPARTISAN . . . . 14.05
********** (Democratic) **********
City Of Akron Mayor
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 153 OF 153 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Don Plusquellic . . . . . . . . 12,497 55.02
Michael D. Williams . . . . . . . 9,756 42.95
Janice O. Davis . . . . . . . . 462 2.03
City Of Akron Ward 1 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 17 OF 17 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Jim Hurley . . . . . . . . . . 1,665 100.00
City Of Akron Ward 2 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 12 OF 12 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Bruce Kilby. . . . . . . . . . 831 53.37
Dominic A. Basile. . . . . . . . 726 46.63
City Of Akron Ward 3 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 14 OF 14 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Marco S. Sommerville. . . . . . . 1,710 100.00
City Of Akron Ward 4 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 18 OF 18 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Russel C. Neal, Jr. . . . . . . . 2,666 100.00
City Of Akron Ward 5 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 12 OF 12 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Ken Jones . . . . . . . . . . 929 100.00
City Of Akron Ward 6 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 17 OF 17 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Bob Hoch. . . . . . . . . . . 1,329 51.37
Robert J. Otterman . . . . . . . 1,258 48.63
City Of Akron Ward 7 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 16 OF 16 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Donnie Kammer . . . . . . . . . 1,399
Tina Merlitti . . . . . . . . . 980
Mayceo Smith II . . . . . . . . 209
Candidate Withdrew . . . . . . . 0
City Of Akron Ward 8 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 21 OF 21 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Marilyn L. Keith . . . . . . . . 1,837 51.86
James Hardy. . . . . . . . . . 1,493 42.15
Ed Muse . . . . . . . . . . . 212 5.99
City Of Akron Ward 9 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 13 OF 13 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Mike Freeman . . . . . . . . . 1,350 100.00
City Of Akron Ward 10 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 13 OF 13 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Garry L. Moneypenny . . . . . . . 1,238 100.00
City Of Barberton Mayor
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 23 OF 23 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
William B. Judge . . . . . . . . 1,661 54.19
Bob Genet . . . . . . . . . . 1,404 45.81
City Of Barberton Director Of Finance
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 23 OF 23 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Raymond E. Flickinger . . . . . . 2,439 100.00
City Of Barberton Director Of Law
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 23 OF 23 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Lisa Okolish Miller . . . . . . . 2,430 100.00
City Of Barberton Ward 1 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 4 OF 4 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Gary L. Endres. . . . . . . . . 266 66.33
Jeffrey Heitic. . . . . . . . . 135 33.67
City Of Barberton Ward 2 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 4 OF 4 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
John Lysenko . . . . . . . . . 461 100.00
City Of Barberton Ward 3 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 4 OF 4 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
John D. Wagner. . . . . . . . . 588 100.00
City Of Barberton Ward 4 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 3 OF 3 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Craig S. Megyes . . . . . . . . 254 74.49
Joyce Anderson. . . . . . . . . 87 25.51
City Of Barberton Ward 5 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 4 OF 4 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Terry Avant. . . . . . . . . . 298 100.00
City Of Barberton Ward 6 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 4 OF 4 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Carol A. Frey . . . . . . . . . 313 56.40
Michael Anderson . . . . . . . . 242 43.60
********** (Republican) **********
City Of Akron Mayor
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 153 OF 153 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Jennifer Hensal . . . . . . . . 1,052 65.67
Katie Marie Wilkins . . . . . . . 550 34.33
City Of Akron Ward 1 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 17 OF 17 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Mark A. LaVoie. . . . . . . . . 181 100.00
City Of Akron Ward 2 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 12 OF 12 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Josh Sines . . . . . . . . . . 113 100.00
City Of Akron Ward 3 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 14 OF 14 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
NO CANDIDATE FILED . . . . . . . 0
City Of Akron Ward 4 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 18 OF 18 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
NO CANDIDATE FILED . . . . . . . 0
City Of Akron Ward 5 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 12 OF 12 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
NO CANDIDATE FILED . . . . . . . 0
City Of Akron Ward 6 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 17 OF 17 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Dave Goodspeed. . . . . . . . . 239 100.00
City Of Akron Ward 7 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 16 OF 16 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
John T. Jones . . . . . . . . . 185 100.00
City Of Akron Ward 8 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 21 OF 21 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
David M. Sutter . . . . . . . . 452 100.00
City Of Akron Ward 9 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 13 OF 13 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Amy Page. . . . . . . . . . . 104 100.00
City Of Akron Ward 10 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 13 OF 13 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Laura Asbury . . . . . . . . . 114 100.00
********** (NONPARTISAN) **********
City Of Stow Mayor
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 30 OF 30 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Sara L. Drew . . . . . . . . . 1,531 47.49
Scott E. Buck . . . . . . . . . 1,039 32.23
Larry Kinnan . . . . . . . . . 433 13.43
Brian M. Burgess . . . . . . . . 221 6.85
City Of Stow Council-at-large
Vote For Not More Than 3
(WITH 30 OF 30 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
John Pribonic . . . . . . . . . 1,767 22.26
Mike Rasor . . . . . . . . . . 1,550 19.53
Bob Adaska . . . . . . . . . . 1,292 16.28
Brian D'Antonio . . . . . . . . 1,206 15.19
Denise Tonelli. . . . . . . . . 928 11.69
Daniel Mazzola. . . . . . . . . 647 8.15
Don Daugherty, Jr. . . . . . . . 547 6.89
City Of Stow Ward 3 Council
Vote For Not More Than 1
(WITH 7 OF 7 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
Brian Lowdermilk . . . . . . . . 366 51.69
Annie Hanson . . . . . . . . . 295 41.67
Joseph Lane. . . . . . . . . . 47 6.64
8:50 p.m.
Mayor Plusquellic staking an early lead with early voting, and isn't looking back as results start to pour in from Akron precincts. The long-time Akron Mayor riding a 56-41% lead with over half of precincts reporting over challenger Mike Williams. Janice Davis has less than 3% of the vote.
The big Akron races seem centered on Wards 7 & 8; in Ward 7 incumbent Tina Merlitti is losing badly to Donnie Kammer. With 63% of that vote in, Merlitti is down by 324 votes. In Ward 8, Marilyn Keith holds a 51-42% margin over the nearest hopeful, Board of Education member James Hardy.
Early voting results are still the lone numbers in Barberton and Stow. Barberton Mayor Bob Genet holds a comfortable lead while in Stow Sara Drew is leading.
8:24 p.m.
First results coming in and if the early voting is any indication it's Plusquellic in a walk. But he lost about five percent from the strong 61-39% lead he took out of the early voting results. The first votes from today being processed, 32 of the 206 precincts to be counted tonight, but the Akron Mayor seeking a record seventh term still holds a commanding lead.
The closest race of the night may be in Akron's Ward 8, where Marilyn Keith holds a five-point lead in early balloting over James Hardy to represent the City's wealthiest enclave. Other incumbents seemed to be staking early leads as well with the exception of Ward 7's Tina Merlitti, down by over 200 votes to Donnie Kamer.
8:06 p.m. The counting of the early voting being released, and it should be a relatively early night with Summit County's board of elections workers processing ballots from 206 precincts in three municipalities holding elections today -- mayoral and ward council primaries in Akron and Barberton, non-partisan elections for mayor and four council positions in Stow.
In the early going Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic earns the lead over challengers Councilman Mike Williams and Janice Davis with a 61-35% lead over Williams after absentee and early voting ballots have been counted. On the Republican side jennifer Hensel leads Katie Marie Wilkins 68-31%.
In the Mayor's Democrat race in Barberton Mayor Bob Genet holds an early 60-39% lead over challenger William Judge:
For Mayor of Stow Sara Drew has an early 53% advantage, followed by Scott Buck at 25% then Larry Kinnan and Brian Burgess together totalling just over 20%.
There are five contested Akron ward races, all Democrats; three of six Barberton ward posts and four Stow ward council jobs on the line tonight.
7:29 p.m.
It's election night and the polls closing at 7:30 p.m. in Akron, Stow and Barberton ahead of workers at the Summit County Board of Elections on Grant Street beginning their count of the early voting ballots cast.
Summmit County Elections Director Ron Koehler backed away from predictions of higher-than-expected turnout, and says there was more voter activity in Akron than Barberton and Stow. Few problems, other than in Firestone Park where a light ballast malfunctioned. The Akron Fire Department was called when election workers smelled smoke, but the situation was assessed and voting resumed about ten minutes later. The County had 14 troubleshooting teams on hand, just in case there were problems.
AkronNewsNow will use this static page to provide regular blog-style updates with results from the Summit County Board of Elections. In addition to the high-profile Akron Democrat Mayor's race, mayoral and city council contests are also being held in Barberton and Stow. We'll update the elections report (below) once early and absentee vote counts are displayed. You can also access the vote results from the Summit County Board of Elections at this site.
