In the end, one student made the grade – just not a current one.
Michael Aspacher won the city’s 3rd Ward seat after defeating his former middle school teacher Roger Mazzarella 851-806, according to official results released Nov. 24. Aspacher led by only 36 votes on election night.
‘My candidacy is strictly another opportunity to contribute to the community in a positive way and be a participant in solutions instead of just complaining about problems,’ Aspacher said.
Aspacher had previously served on several city boards, including eight years on the Bowling Green Board of Education, with three of those years acting as president.
Even though the 1st and 3rd wards were close, a recount will not be necessary, said Terry Burton, director of the Wood County Board of Elections.
According to Burton, a recount would only occur if the final results were within 10 votes or less, which did not occur in any race.
Burton said the board takes three weeks during nonfederal elections to count absentee and provisional votes. In federal elections, the board takes four weeks.
Burton said 491 provisional votes were counted in the past three weeks.
‘Election night, I call [it] the ‘unofficial count’ because it is just that,’ Burton said. ‘Without some due diligence and going through and making sure everything is right then you can’t accurately say, ‘These are the results for final.”
The results also reaffirmed that University students did not win their seats.
Junior Jacob Redfern, who had occupied the 1st Ward’s seat left by Gordy Heminger since August, lost the election 194-170, or with 47.14 percent of the total vote. On election night, he trailed 182-150.
Students make up a large portion of the 1st Ward, yet only 56 registered voters, or 2.14 percent of registered citizens, reported to vote at the Union, which is the major polling station for University students.
Redfern said poor student turnout was a major factor in not being elected in a Nov. 4 article in The BG News. In the same article, he said he lost the election because students did not come out to the polls.
Senior Rob Emmelhainz, a former senator for the Undergraduate Student Government, did not make up any ground with absentee and provisional votes. He ended up with 269 votes, 36.1 percent of the vote, losing to John Zanfardino. FACTBOX: The final results of 2009″Bowling Green City Council”Election from 97 precincts: Bowling Green 1st Ward (367 votes): Mark Hollenbaugh – 194 (52.86 percent) Jacob Redfern – 173 2nd Ward (745 votes): John Zanfardino – 476 (63.89 percent) Rob Emmelhainz ‘- 269 3rd Ward (1,657 votes): Michael Aspacher – 851 (51.36 percent) Roger Mazzarella – 806 Source: Wood County Board of Elections’ official Web site
