![Booths stand ready for voters at a polling place in Cleveland in 2014. [Nick Castele / ideastream]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/add8cd7/2147483647/strip/true/crop/980x520+0+0/resize/840x446!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F11%2F27%2F2014votingbooths.jpg)
Two Cleveland city council races could see their results overturned after the board of elections certifies the vote count Tuesday morning.
In the three weeks since Election Day, the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections has sifted through provisional ballots. Those are votes cast by people whose eligibility or addresses are in question.
While verified provisional ballots won’t tip the scales in most races, they could make the difference in very close contests.
In Cleveland’s Ward 1, Joe Jones beat incumbent Terrell Pruitt by just nine votes. The board received 93 provisional ballots in that race.
In Ward 7, where Basheer Jones unseated T.J. Dow by a 19-vote margin, there are 164 provisionals.
The math is more difficult for Beachwood Mayor Merle Gorden, who lost to Martin Horwitz by 37 votes in a three-way race. The board reported 54 provisional ballots and 24 late absentees in that contest.
There’s also another possibility: If the results are within half a percentage point, it would trigger an automatic recount.
