COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio's elections chief has certified the results of the raucous, expensive presidential contest and other fall races.
Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted (HYOO'-sted) performed the task on Thursday.
After the months of intensive campaigning, Democratic President Barack Obama garnered 2,827,621 votes to Republican nominee Mitt Romney's 2,661,407 — or 50.2 percent to 47.3 percent of the vote in the bellwether state. No Republican has ever won the White House without Ohio, and few Democrats have.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, beat Republican challenger Josh Mandel (man-DEHL') by almost 327,000 votes. Independent candidate Scott Rupert garnered 250,000 votes in the heated Senate contest, which was more than the combined total of all five third-party presidential challengers.
Statewide voter turnout was 70.5 percent.
