Mike Doran appears to defeat longtime recorder Judy Nedwick

It appears that Lorain County might have its first new county recorder since 2003. Unofficial election results from the Lorain County Board of Elections showed Republican Mike Doran ahead of Democrat Judy Nedwick, 72,425 votes to 71,425 votes, a lead of less than 1 percent. All 193 Lorain County precincts reported results Tuesday night, but there were still outstanding absentee and provisional ballots to be counted, so the vote could change before the results are made official. There were 3,529 absentee ballots and 3,829 provisional ballots outstanding at press time, according to Lorain County Board of Elections Director Paul Adams. Initially trailing when early and absentee votes were tallied, Doran said he began gaining confidence he would win as precincts began reporting their results and the race grew closer. Doran, 36, said he hopes Nedwick will work with him on ensuring a smooth transition. Reached by phone Tuesday night, he said he has no plans to remove any effective staff members from the Recorder's Office. "Anyone who is performing well and doing their job, their jobs are safe," Doran said, adding that he has met some of the employees in the office and they "seem like good people and they do their jobs well." A graduate of ITT Tech in computers and electronics engineering technology, Doran said in answers to a Chronicle-Telegram election questionnaire that he would bring "a fresh new look to the Recorder's Office" with his knowledge of cybersecurity. He said he would expand online historical document searches while maintaining secure systems and has worked with other county recorders to give property owners a property fraud alert system. Assuming the result holds, Doran would be the first new Lorain County recorder in 17 years. Nedwick began her career with the Lorain County Auditor's Office in 1984 and was appointed recorder in 2003. She was elected recorder the following year and won reelection in 2008, 2012 and 2016. Nedwick was not able to be reached by phone Tuesday night. Contact Dylan Reynolds at (440) 329-7123 or dreynolds@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @drey1357.