As another round of primary elections came to an end, Janet Esposito defeated Christopher J. Mallin for the position of Portage County Auditor.

Esposito pulled ahead with 69.03 percent of the votes while Mallin had 30.97 percent of the votes at 9:32 p.m., according to vote.ohio.gov. 

“I’m very humbled. I’m happy to be available to serve the citizens again. This isn’t about politics or what party, it’s about the people,” Esposito said. “My door is open to the public, always. I come to work and represent the people.

Mallin, who has been continually active in the Democratic party, said the turnout was all he could’ve anticipated.

“It’s hard not getting the voting turnout I generally wanted, but it’s difficult to compete against a 20-year incumbent,” Mallin said.

The County Auditor is the bookkeeper of all county elected officials, along with other county agencies such as park district, health department, soil and water conservation district, and regional planning commission. Another part of the job is to pay the bills for these groups including payroll.

Esposito has lived in Portage County her whole life and has served at Portage County Auditor since 1995. Esposito was awarded the 2008 OGRIP Best Practices Award for GIS (Geographic Information Systems), the 2008 Tyler Munis Public Sector Excellence Award, the 2009 New Horizon Award for Promotion of Weights & Measures, and 2009-2012 Ohio Training for Weights & Measures personnel recognition.

Contact Megan Brown at [email protected].