Offbeat Hotly contested Ohio race get closer after hundreds of uncounted votes are found

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The nail-biter playing out in Ohio’s 12th Congressional District got even closer Wednesday after 588 uncounted votes were found in a suburb of Columbus, according to county officials.

The ballots were tallied and Democrat Danny O’Connor gained 190 votes on Republican Troy Balderson. The GOP candidate, who was endorsed by President Trump, currently leads by 1,564 votes.

The Franklin County Board of Elections said in a news release that the newly discovered ballots had not been “processed into the tabulation system,” and the issue was corrected.

O’Connor, who is from Franklin County, celebrated the news by tweeting red sirens and informing his followers that he is confident he will soon be declared the winner. He asked for donations to continue to fight that the votes are “counted fairly.”

High-stakes Ohio election just got closer after county finds hundreds of uncounted votes

Election officials in Ohio found 688 previously uncounted votes, helping Danny O'Connor shave Troy Balderson's lead in congressional district race.Election officials in Franklin County found 688 previously uncounted votes in a Columbus suburb. The result: O'Connor had a net gain of 190 votes, bringing the race's margin down to 1,564.

Election officials in Ohio found 688 previously uncounted votes , helping Danny O'Connor shave Troy Balderson's lead in congressional district race . Correction: The number of votes found is 588. COLUMBUS – The tight race between Democrat Danny O'Connor and Republican Troy Balderson

The nail-biter playing out in Ohio ’s 12th Congressional District got even closer Wednesday after 588 uncounted votes were found in a suburb of Columbus, according to county officials. The ballots were tallied and Democrat Danny O’Connor gained 190 votes on Republican Troy Balderson.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that 3,435 provisional ballots and 5,048 absentee ballots will be counted Aug. 18, ahead of an Aug. 24 deadline. Ohio requires a recount if a candidate wins by less than half a percentage point.

The winner takes the U.S. House seat previously held by Republican Pat Tiberi, who resigned in January.

The early results were considered a major win by Republicans who insist November’s “blue wave” will turn out to be a ripple.

Democrats, who appeared to come up just shy in another special election, considered O’Connor’s turnout a victory in itself. They point to the fact Trump won the district by 11 percentage points in 2016. The district has had a Republican representative for the last three decades.

"It's one more piece of evidence amidst a lot of others that this is a good environment for Democrats, and it provides some opportunities to the party in the fall," Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, told the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Missing ballots, like those in Ohio special election, often happen – and are just as often found

Under the rush of election nights, voting precinct officials nationwide often misplace ballots or send them to the wrong office. And those ballots are just as often discovered via audits or recounts, analysts said."It's not unusual," said Fred Wertheimer, founder and president of Democracy 21, a watchdog organization based in Washington, D.C. "It's one of the reasons people do recounts in close races."Post-election audits also yield uncounted votes, as happened this week in the special election for Ohio's 12th congressional district.

“ Ohio race narrows as election officials find hundreds of uncounted votes in district previously won by Trump.” Franklin County Officials found the uncounted votes in a Columbus suburb, according to the Enquirer, netting Democratic candidate Danny O’Connor 190 more votes and narrowing his race

“A vote denied is justice denied — the State of Florida must count every legally cast vote ,” he said in a statement. But people close to Mr. Gillum said he had He predicted that tens of thousands of as-yet uncounted votes would swing the race in his client’s favor. The new count will not tally all votes cast

Trump claimed credit for his late push to give Balderson the slight edge, but Gov. John Kasich also backed the candidate who is running for his old seat.

Balderson, a state senator, and O’Connor, the Franklin County recorder, want to complete the term of a Republican who retired in January. The race tests voter sentiment before the general election in November, when Balderson and O’Connor will battle again for the full two-year term.

Balderson celebrated his victory late Tuesday night and told supporters that he’s ready to get to work in Congress. He says, “America is on the right path and we’re going to keep it going that way.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.