Challenge Filed In Narrow City Of Washington Mayors Race

A challenge has been filed in connection with the City of Washington Mayoral race from the November 7 election. Democrat Jo Jo Burgess won the race by 39 votes over Independent candidate Mark Kennison. Washington County Elections Director Melanie Ostrander says there are 20 petitioners who are all registered voters in the City who voted in the election. Ostrander says they are requesting to review all of the election materials including; voted ballots, voting lists and poll book lists. She says they believe there were activities that occured at the 6th Ward-Precinct 1 that could have caused the election to be swayed towards one candidate. Results show that Burgess beat Kennison by 68 votes in that precinct. A hearing on the challenge will be heard before Washington County Common Pleas Court Judge Gary Gilman Wednesday morning at 10 a.m.