O’Connor closed the gap by 190 votes Wednesday when Franklin County elections officials discovered that many ballots from three Worthington precincts voting at the Griswold Center had not been counted Tuesday. Presuming no immediate changes in other counties in the sprawling 12th Congressional District, Balderson now is up 1,564 votes over O’Connor.
8,483 absentee and provisional votes are still outstanding, according to the county boards of election, though some may be deemed ineligible or may not be returned or returned after the deadline. If those eligible for counting bend substantially O’Connor’s way, they could hand him a narrow victory or a shot at an automatic recount, which must be conducted if the results are within 0.5 percentage points.
