This month’s election results are still unofficial, and the process to close out the 2018 midterms started this weekend.
There are more than 115,000 uncounted absentee ballots and just over 100,000 provisional ballots statewide. More than half are in the most populous counties of Cuyahoga, Franklin, Hamilton, Lucas, Montgomery, Stark and Summit.
Counting by county boards of elections could have begun as early as Saturday, but they must start by Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. The process must be finished by next Tuesday, Nov. 27.
The Secretary of State will certify the votes and make the results official sometime in the first two weeks of December. A few races hang in the balance: There are four Ohio House contests and a Senate contest that are each separated by a couple hundred votes.
Republicans lead in four of those races, but even if the Democrats win them all, Republicans maintain a supermajority in the Senate and keep their majority in the House.
