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Athens County Unofficial Election Results
By: WOUB Staff Writer
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Unofficial election results are in for Athens County.
Republican incumbent Jill Thompson keep her the seat for Athens County Auditor. Thompson had 8,217 votes over Democrat Kathy Hecht, who received 5,852 votes.
Kathleen Purdy won the State Board of Education in Athens 8th District, with 4,215 votes, over Robert F. Hagan, who received 3,916 votes, and Ida Ross-Freeman, who received 1,288 votes.
Republican incumbent George P. McCarthy will keep his judge position in the Athens County Court of Common Pleas. McCarthy won with 6,966 votes over Democrat Herman A. Carson, who received 5,373 votes.
The race for the 94th District seat in the Ohio House of Representatives is too close to call. According to the Ohio Secretary of State website, Democrat incumbent Debbie Phillips is leading her challenger, Yolan G. Dennis by a mere 194 votes. In Athens County however, Phillips received 8,368 votes compared to 4,626 for Dennis.
Issue 2, which proposed a levy to increase property taxes to raise money for Athens County Public Libraries, received 9,031 votes, versus the 4,917 votes against the levy.
The levy could raise over $900,000 for Athens County Public Libraries over the course of 5 years.
Issue 7, which will ban the process of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in Athens, received 2,245 votes, versus the 623 votes against it.
The Athens Bill of Rights Committee, which was behind the initiative, believes that the chemicals used in fracking can be harmful to water sources and air quality, which in turn, could negatively affect resident health.
Issue 8, which will increase income tax rates by 0.1 percent over the next 20 years for Athens city residents in order to renovate Athens city parks, passed with 1,981 votes, versus the 899 votes that were against the initiative.
Election officials say there are 482 provisional ballots that will need to be reviewed.