LISBON — The Columbiana County Board of Elections on Wednesday certified the results of the state mandated post-election audit, with the hand count of 5 percent of the ballots a match for the official tally.

“We came out exactly as the official canvass, 100 percent accurate,” county Board of Elections Director Kim Fusco said.

Each county elections board in Ohio must conduct a post-election audit, counting votes by hand in two contests selected by the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office and one countywide contest selected by the local board. Races included the presidential, the U.S. Senate and the contested county commissioner race between Tim Ginter and Ray Cox selected by the county board.

The number of ballots for the hand count must represent at least 5 percent of the number of ballots cast in the election. In Columbiana County, that number of ballots totaled 2,430 out of the 48,588 ballots cast for the November general election.

Election officials then selected three precincts whose combination of ballots would equal or slightly exceed the number of ballots required to be counted.

The selected precincts included Butler Township North, Unity Township North and Salem City 4B, with the ballots totaling 2,449, or 19 over the required number.

Three two-person bi-partisan (one Democrat, one Republican) teams made up of the office staff at the county Board of Elections did the counting and ended the count with no discrepancies.

“Always nice to know that it’s accurate,” Fusco said.

The board approved bills totaling $66,585 for October and $112,195 for November, but Fusco said that does not include all the bills for this election cycle, noting there are still some bills outstanding. She also told the board there was an issue with the Election System & Software bill, saying the company double billed them. The bill is normally $5,000, but ES&S sent a bill for $10,000 so she’s working on the issue.

In a matter related to the 2025 primary, Fusco said the filing deadline is always 90 days before the election, which would be the beginning of February, but they’re still awaiting word from the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office on the exact day and the new election calendar. She said people are asking for petitions and calling wanting to know the date.

She also advised board members that the Ohio Association of Election Officials conference was Jan. 8-10 and asked if any were going, with Chairman David Johnson indicating he would go for one day.

The board then discussed holiday hours for the office since Christmas falls on a Wednesday, with Johnson acknowledging office staff members worked seven days a week for an extended period leading up to the election.

The board agreed to shut down the office from Dec. 24 through Dec. 27, but employees must use comp days or vacation days to get paid, with the exception of Christmas Day since it’s a paid holiday.