According to the BOE member, the Democrat Jessica Miranda now leads the incumbent GOP MP Jonathan Devers for the seat in the House of Representatives.

COLUMBUS – It came down to the last couple of postal and preliminary votes.

Democrat Jessica Miranda has ousted Republican MP Jonathan Dever by 56 votes for a seat in the Ohio House. This comes from the official census published by the Hamilton County Electoral Authority on Wednesday.

The narrow margin triggers an automatic recount on November 30th before Miranda is officially declared the winner. After election night, Miranda was behind Dever with 303 votes, which corresponds to a lead of 0.56 percent.

Miranda filled the gap between the 11,000 postal ballot and preliminary ballot papers submitted nationwide and which the electoral board finalized Wednesday. Voters submit preliminary ballots when problems arise such as: B. lack of identification, an address that does not match the district, signatures that do not match, and other anomalies.

These ballots tend to break democratically. The house race made up 1,400 of the 11,000 ballots counted after election night. That was all Miranda needed.

A grateful Miranda thanked the 28th house district voters on Wednesday.

“Don’t let anyone tell you your voice doesn’t matter,” Miranda said. “I’m so glad the 28th district voters voted for a change.”

Miranda’s victory was an exclamation mark for the Democratic takeover of politics in Hamilton County. It shows how blue the county has turned. Miranda challenged Dever in 2016 but lost by more than 9,000 votes.

In this election, Democrats ousted the lone Republican on the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners and won two more seats.

Democrats celebrated Miranda’s apparent victory, though a recount has yet to take place.

“I’ve seen a lot of recounts and I haven’t seen a recount that changes everything,” said Caleb Faux, executive director of the Hamilton County Democrats and member of the electoral committee.

For Republicans, the final vote the day before Thanksgiving was sad news.

Dever did not immediately return a message for comment.

“It’s surprising and disappointing,” said Alex Triantafilou, Hamilton County’s Republican Party chairman and member of the electoral committee. “Jonathan Dever is a wonderful state representative. We’ll see what happens in the recount.”

Ohio’s 28th district is one of the most competitive in the state. Hamilton County stretches from Madeira and Montgomery in the east to Forest Park and Greenhills in the west.

Connie Pillich, a Democrat, who had just stepped down as co-chair of the Hamilton County Democratic Party to get a job in Washington, DC, represented the district for five years before running for treasurer in 2014.

In the end, Miranda’s victory didn’t have a dramatic impact on the make-up of the Ohio House of Representatives. Despite the seats of some Democrats, the Republicans will retain their veto-safe majority in the chamber. The final split will be 61-38.

Miranda said better funding for education will be a priority when she comes to Columbus.

“I’ve knocked on 34,000 doors and the biggest thing I’ve heard from people is that they’re fed up with stagnant leadership,” Miranda said. “They were angry that things weren’t done. I’m a leader who will go to Columbus and get things done.”