RAVENNA – Norm Crock got people to vote for him by standing outside the polling booth at Tower Lodge by a city park in Ravenna and passing out about 160 leaflets. The leaflets, suggested by Crock’s supporters, explained how to vote for him and included his first and last name.

Crock ran as a write-in for Ward 1 councilman in yesterday’s election and waited for results with others who ran at the Portage County Board of Elections.

Steven R. Bailey won Ward 1 with 331 votes, but Crock said he got positive feedback from the public.

The write-in was simple, he said. Instructions were available upon request at polling places, but a name wasn’t provided.

“Some didn’t know I was a write-in. Some didn’t know my last name,” he said.

With the leaflet, his first and last name were available for voters.

Some voters said they knew him and were going to vote for him anyway, he added.

Crock was pleased with the new system of voting.

He said the touch-screen computer made older voters hesitant because they may have never touched a computer before, but he said when they left, they had positive comments.

Overall, Frank Seman, incumbent Ward 2 councilman, said he enjoyed the new voting system commenting on the features of the computer.

“You could verify what you voted before you printed the ballot,” he said.

Crock said he expected the voting results to be available faster.

“It’s a little unusual. I expected it to be faster because of it computerized, but I guess you’ll expect glitches,” he said.

Last year, the Board of Elections posted results on a projector. This year, they printed out results as they became available and taped them to the walls.

Palmyra Township Trustee Barbara McKenzie went to see the results on Issue 41 to see what would happen with the fire station. She didn’t like that the results weren’t on the projector.

“I think it made it slower for the first time use,” McKenzie said.

Paul Jones, Ravenna mayor and chairman of the Board of Elections, said he expected the delay.

The staff was being trained as they counted and technicians were available to fix problems, he said adding that voters were apprehensive and there were minor glitches.

As of 11:15 p.m., 83 percent of the results were in.

“Me and the staff expect to be here until about 1:30 in the morning,” he said.

By 11:20 p.m., Seman, who also works as an educational consultant in Moulton Hall, knew he had won his race.

“It’s been a long night and it’s a relief,” he said.

Contact features correspondent Theresa Edwards at [email protected].