Democrats Pick up a House Seat in Central Ohio

Stivers, a state senator, conceded the race to Kilroy shortly after the results were released Sunday.

"While I am extremely proud of the race I ran, ultimately, is was not enough," Stivers said. "I have called Commissioner Kilroy to congratulate her for her hard-fought victory, and I wish her well in Washington."

The counting of the roughly 24,000 provisional ballots — 40 percent of them cast by voters in the 15th District — went forward after the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Friday that 1,000 of the ballots under dispute must be thrown out because of voter error. In a 4-2 decision, the court struck down Democratic Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's directive that said the votes should be counted.

Justices said Brunner improperly instructed county elections officials to apply conflicting standards to election law by ruling that the votes should be counted, even though the envelopes failed to comply with legal guidelines set out before Nov. 4.

The disputed ballots contained varying errors on the outer envelope, such as lacking either a signature or a name. Others had the signature or name written in the incorrect space.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati had ruled on Nov. 25 that the state high court should rule on the issue, vacating a ruling by U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley a week earlier in favor of counting the ballots.

The provisional ballots also settled two state House races, both of which were won by Democrats.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.