YOUNGSTOWN — Four races in Mahoning County — including Youngstown 7th Ward council, which is currently tied — are almost certainly heading for automatic recounts.

If recounts are held, it might not be until the end of the month before voters know who won.

Board of elections officials still have to count provisional ballots in each of the races. After those ballots are counted, if the margin of victory is one-half of 1 percent or less, the board will do automatic recounts.

Currently, four races are within that margin of victory.

In Youngstown’s 7th Ward council race, incumbent Democrat Basia Adamczak and challenger Donald P. Scott, a retired city police officer, each finished with 567 votes. There are at least 19 provisional ballots to be counted in that election.

In the race for the third and final seat on the Poland school board, Annie Colucci leads incumbent Elinor S. Zedaker by one vote: 1,114 to 1,113. That’s a margin of victory of 0.04 percent. There are at least 11 provisional ballots in that race.

For the fourth and final seat on Canfield City Council, Charles Tieche leads Christine Oliver 861 to 856, a 0.29 percent margin of victory. Both are incumbents. There are at least nine provisional ballots in that election.

For the second and final seat on Struthers school board, Chester Leone leads Jim Kavouras 1,265 to 1,255, a 0.4 percent margin of victory. There are at least 25 provisional ballots in that race.

By state law, the board cannot count provisional ballots and start certifying the results until Nov. 16. Because that’s a Saturday, the earliest the board would start the certification process would be Nov. 18, director Joyce Kale-Pesta said.

Overall, there are about 200 provisional ballots in the county, she said.

The board has until Nov. 26 to certify the ballot. While a date hasn’t been determined as of Wednesday, the board is expected to do it closer to Nov. 18 than Nov. 26, Kale-Pesta said.

If the percentages hold up, the board has up to 10 days after certification to conduct a recount, she said. Kale-Pesta added she doesn’t expect the board to take the full 10 days for recounts.

The board will count by hand about three to five precincts in each race and run the rest through an optical scanner machine that counts ballots, she said.

Kale-Pesta said she will recommend the board hand-count all seven precincts in the Youngstown 7th Ward race. The impacted candidates are invited to watch the recounts.

The election outcome will come down to the provisionals and not the recount of the ballots counted Tuesday, Kale-Pesta and Deputy Director Thomas McCabe said.

“We’ve never had a change in the vote total with the paper ballots on the machines,” Kale-Pesta said.

Provisional ballots are when a voter can’t verify eligibility largely for three reasons: a move into a precinct within 30 days of the election, a name change without updating voter registration or lack of proper identification provided when voting, McCabe said.

Provisional voters have 10 days to verify their address, name and/or provide proper identification to the board for their ballots to count.

There are no recounts in Trumbull County. The closest race in the county, according to election officials, was for the third and final seat on the Hubbard school board.

William Cummings is leading Richard Buchenic 1,200 to 1,173, a 1.14 percent margin of victory. There are at least 12 provisional ballots in that race. Even if Buchenic was on each of those ballots and Cummings wasn’t — highly unlikely as voters could choose up to three of the six candidates seeking that office — the margin of victory would be 0.62 percent, more than one-half of 1 percent.

However, candidates can seek recounts if they pay for them.

dskolnick@tribtoday.com