There were a total of at least 8,410 ballots cast in Middletown’s 36 BUTLER COUNTY precincts (the total number of votes cast (both “YES” and “NO”) on Issue 8. But Middletown had 37 BUTLER COUNTY precincts reported for the School Board!

There were only a total of 8,225 total votes cast for all city council candidates. This means that at least 185 ballots were cast WITHOUT a vote for a city councilman.

Since each ballot allowed a vote for EACH of the unopposed School Board candidates, a total of 16,820 votes could have been cast, yet only 9,521 total votes were cast. This means that voters chose 7,299 times to NOT CAST a vote for one or both of the two unopposed candidates. This was in spite of Rev. Tyus’s plea for everyone to vote for him and Ms. Andrews despite them running unopposed “to show support”! Could this mean that many voters do NOT support the actions of the school board. I don’t know. You tell me.

Rev. Tyus received less than half (45.7%) of the possible votes running unopposed. 54.3% of the voters chose NOT to vote for him.

There were 3,299 votes cast in Ward 3. This is nearly as many votes as cast in any two of the other three Wards COMBINED! Mr. Marconi’s LOSING Ward 3 total of 1,559 was the SECOND HIGHEST total of ANY candidate in any ward, and would have made him a CLEAR WINNER in any other ward. Mr. Marconi’s LOSING TOTAL was HIGHER than the TOTAL number of VOTES CAST in EITHER Ward 2 or Ward 4. Mr. Smith, in Ward 2, had the LARGEST victory (percentage-wise) but even though he ran the BEST campaign (in my view) and spent the MOST money (according to the preliminary report), he garnered only 930 votes. This total in Ward 3 would have placed him in a DISTANT third place. He would also have lost with this total in either Ward 1 or Ward 4. What does of this mean? I can’t say for certain, but since there will never be another Ward election (without significant citizen effort) one can only wonder which area of the city will control council elections in the future.

To further put the “ward issue” in perspective, consider the vote totals listed this way:

JOSHUA E. LAUBACH                 1740 Ward 3

TONY MARCONI                        1559 Ward 3

JAMES E. ARMBRUSTER           1274 Ward 1 (1 block from 3)

DANIEL J. PICARD                     1024 Ward 4 (across street from 3)

A. J. SMITH                                 930 Ward 2

GARY LEE BARGE                      805 Ward 1

PAUL NAGY                                528 Ward 4

JOHN P. SOPPANISH                  365 Ward 2

Now consider that, if all of the same gentlemen had been running “at large”, the voting instructions would have said: “Four to be elected. Vote for up to FOUR.”

Now, before the “stone throwers” begin, I am NOT trying to demean or belittle ANYONE, by any of the forgoing. I am simply trying to take a look at the statistics and see if they tell us any more than the councilmen-elect.