And voters in Franklin County's 19th Ohio House District can't name their new representative either, but that race will not change the fact that Democrats for the first time in 14 years have retaken control of the Ohio House.

It marked the first time a party that did not draw the district lines ever took control of the House chamber.

"I'm not surprised we're taking the House back. This is not by happenstance," said Minority Leader Joyce Beatty, D-Columbus. "This was well-orchestrated and strategic. They worked hard, and they earned it."

In the 15th, Republican state Sen. Steve Stivers clung to a 146-vote lead last night over Democratic Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy out of nearly 290,000 votes counted in the district. The 15th covers western Franklin County and all of Madison and Union counties.

It was another cliffhanger for Kilroy, who came within 0.5 percent of unseating Rep. Deborah Pryce two years ago. In that election, Kilroy trailed by 3,536 votes in unofficial totals announced the day after the election, but the gap narrowed to 1,062 when uncounted absentee and provisional ballots were factored in and a mandatory recount was completed a month after the election.

At 7:34 p.m. yesterday, officials suspended their count of regular paper ballots cast at the polls on Election Day, as well as the absentee ballots cast in person at Veterans Memorial on Monday or delivered to the board by the time polls closed Tuesday night.

Yet to be counted are provisional ballots, which won't be tallied for 10 days; the military and overseas absentee ballots postmarked by the time the polls closed Tuesday and received by Nov. 14; any domestic absentee ballots postmarked by Monday that are received by Nov. 14; as well as any of the estimated 5,000 absentee ballots with errors that voters correct by Nov. 14.

Kilroy's campaign predicted that those ballots would melt away Stivers' lead. Provisional ballots, often cast by younger voters and new residents, tend to skew Democratic.

"We are confident that when the Board of Elections completes their work that Mary Jo Kilroy will be declared the winner given the number of ballots that have yet to be counted in Franklin County," Kilroy spokesman Brad Bauman said in a written statement in the afternoon.

The Stivers campaign said the race is too close to call.

In the 19th Ohio House District, including Westerville and eastern Franklin County, Democrat Marian Harris leads Republican Brad Lewis by just 12 votes out of more than 58,000 cast. However, the district is just gravy for Democrats, who already have 51 of 99 seats in the bag, giving them a majority.

Not counting the 19th, House Democrats on Tuesday grabbed seven GOP-held seats, including two in Franklin County: the open 22nd District in Dublin and Clintonville, and the 20th District, covering Gahanna, Bexley and Whitehall, where Nancy Garland squeaked by Rep. Jim McGregor, R-Gahanna.

Democrats also still might win a GOP-held southeastern Ohio district where Debbie Phillips leads by 170 votes. Republicans captured two Democrat-held House seats.

Rep. Matthew J. Dolan, chairman of the House Republican Campaign Committee, said he was proud of the effort.

"We came within thousands of votes out of millions cast to maintaining the majority," he said. "You can't underestimate the turnout Democrats were able to produce for the top of the ticket. In some of our seats, that was too much to overcome."

Chris Redfern, Ohio Democratic chairman, noted that unlike past years, the money was pretty even.

"When they are confronted with parity and a strong, robust Democratic Party, they, of course, lose," he said. "Because we're right on the issues and we have better candidates. Even with their districts, we're right on the issues."

jnash@dispatch.com

jsiegel@dispatch.com