Race for commissioner between Matt Lundy, Jeff Riddell too close to call

The race between incumbent Lorain County Commissioner Matt Lundy, a Democrat, and his Republican challenger, businessman Jeff Riddell, was too close to call Tuesday night. As of 10:01 p.m., according to complete but unofficial results from the Lorain County Board of Elections, Riddell was leading with 52,894 votes (50.3 percent) to 52,270 (49.7 percent) for Lundy. There was still one out of Lorain County's 203 precincts left to report results, along with absentee and provisional ballots still to count, according to the Board of Elections. Lundy was at The Shipyards in Lorain with fellow Democrats on Tuesday. He said he was still waiting to see final numbers and ensure that all votes were counted including provisionals and absentees. "There's a process here and we're just trying to work through the process and see what the numbers are," he said. "We knew the race was going to be razor-thin, and right now we're on the wrong side of the razor." Riddell said he was watching the returns from his Henrietta Township home. He said he was going to send a statement to The Chronicle-Telegram, but he had not done so by press time. Early results at 7:42 p.m. had Lundy ahead with 24,600 votes, or about 61 percent, to Riddell with 15,811, or just over 39 percent. Riddell made up that difference throughout the night as results were counted in the 2 1/2 hours after polls closed. At 8:30 p.m., Lundy had 30,279 (58 percent), to Riddell's 21,946 (42 percent). At 9 p.m., with more than half of precincts reporting, Lundy was still ahead, 40,797 (54 percent) to 35,046 (46 percent) for Riddell. As of 9:26 p.m., with 170 of 203 precincts reporting, Lundy had 47,436 votes (52 percent) to 44,074 (48 percent) for Riddell. All tallies were according to incomplete and unofficial results from the Lorain County Board of Elections. Lundy, a commissioner since 2015, is the current board president. He served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 2007-2014 and on Avon Lake City Council from 1994-1995. Lundy also previously was assistant safety service director for the city of Elyria, and was a radio and television journalist. Riddell is president of his family business, Consumer Builder Supply in Sheffield Township, and previously served on the Lorain County Community College Board of Trustees. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @DaveOBrienCT.