The Republican primary contest for Wood County Recorder appears to be a dead heat.

Incumbent James Matuszak and challenger Connor Rose are tied in the race, according to unofficial results from the Wood County Board of Elections, with exactly 50% of the vote each.

Both Matuszak and Rose received the exact same number of votes – 6,189, according to the board of elections.

“First and foremost I would like to thank all the voters that turned out and voted for me,” said Rose on Wednesday. “I’m very humbled and appreciative for all the support I received.”

He said the next phase is to wait for the provisional ballots to be counted.

“I have full confidence in the board of elections,” Rose said. “They do a great job.”

Julie Baumgardner, deputy director of the board of elections, outlined the next steps for the race.

She noted that the board still has provisional ballots to process, which cannot be processed until 10 days after the election, and there may also still be mailed absentee ballots that may come in; she said that any ballot postmarked the day before the election still has until Saturday to get to the board of elections.

“And so, then we’ll have some valid absentee mail ballots and we’ll have the provisionals that will count,” Baumgardner said. “So more than likely it won’t be a tie, but we’ll have the official certification once those are done. And if it’s a tie then the board will have to meet, and they flip a coin to decide (to break the tie). But more than likely there will be a recount of that race because it’s so close, unless the margin” is greater than one-half of 1%, which is the recount threshold.

“This race proves,” Rose said, “that it’s important to get out and vote because every vote matters.”

Calls placed to Matuszak seeking comment were not immediately returned.