Election tallies are in and Cincinnati voters re-elected all nine City Council incumbents, while two former University of Cincinnati students failed to gain council seats.
A computer glitch at the Hamilton County Board of Elections caused a delay in the reporting of election results.
This year is considered an "off-year" election; Ohio voters weren't choosing a new governor, senator or state representative.
Of the 25 people running for City Council, the nine incumbents were re-elected. The fore-runners, John Cranley (32,663 votes) and Roxanne Qualls (32,648 votes) each earned 7.8 percent of the votes, while Jeff Berding (22, 906 votes) and Chris Monzel (22,712 votes) brought up the rear, with each receiving 5.5 percent of the votes.
The remaining five re-elected city council members are David C. Crowley (30,112 votes and 7.2 percent), Cecil Thomas (26,206 votes and 6.3 percent), Chris Bortz (25,677 votes and 6.2 percent), Leslie Ghiz (24,163 votes and 5.8 percent) and Lakota Cole (23,853 votes and 5.7 percent).
City Council members are elected for two-year terms.
Two former UC students were among the 16 City Council-hopefuls not elected.
Justin Jeffre, a Clifton resident and former member of the pop group 98 degrees, emphasized the need for campaign finance reform and the concept of job training to combat crime. Jeffre studied history and political science while attending UC.
Running as a Green party candidate, Jeffre's campaign also focused on the use of cheaper, cleaner and renewable energy sources to reduce city operating costs.
Jeffre received 7,065 votes, which is approximately 1.7 percent of the total votes cast.
Mitch Painter, also of Clifton, graduated from UC in 2003 with a degree in Psychology.
Painter's campaign emphasized the need to improve public safety and redevelopment projects downtown.
Like Jeffre, Painter also championed job training to lower crime rates and the incorporation of environmentally-friendly builing practices into urban planning.
Painter received 4,944 votes, 1.2 percent of the total votes cast for City Council.
Over 300 precincts voted on four issues Tuesday, with two failing and two passing.
The Cincinnati city schools tax levy failed 38,583 votes to 27,810, and the Hamiliton Co. public safety sales tax failed 107,276 votes to 84,115.
Voters approved the Hamilton Co. mental health service tax levy renewal and increase by 55 percent, voting 104,911 to 85,393.
The Hamiliton Co. elderly services tax levy renewal and increase was also approved by a margin of 132,502 to 58,281 votes, or 69 to 30 percent.






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