ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The Belmont County Board of Elections finished the official count of the Nov. 3 presidential race Monday.

There was no change from race results reported on election night, but the final canvass cemented this as a unique year for both methods of voting and the extensive preparations among the board members and poll workers to hold the election.

GOP victories were upheld in all local races, with every contested election going to the Republican candidate.

In the commissioners’ races, incumbent Republican Josh Meyer got 20,772 votes to Democrat challenger Michael Bianconi’s 11,149, while incumbent J.P. Dutton also received 18,053 votes while independent Vince Gianangeli got 13,860.

In the Belmont County Recorder’s race, Republican Jason Garczyk received 20,167 votes and Democrat Cory DelGuzzo 11,723. They competed over the seat of outgoing Recorder Mary Catherine Nixon, who is retiring after decades in office.

For the Belmont County auditor’s race, Republican challenger Cindi Henry unseated Democrat incumbent Anthony Rocchio with 17,906 votes to 13,964 votes.

Bethesda’s voters also approved a new levy to support Epworth Park and the park district, with 337 votes in favor of the measure to 209 votes in opposition to the 1.5-mill levy.

Belmont County Board of Elections Director Kelly McCabe reported an impressive turnout after the election, with 33,364 voters casting their ballots, or 72 percent turnout compared to 67.8 percent of voters in the 2016 election.

The year also marked a record number of absentee ballots case. Of the 33,364 voters, 19,833 voted early, making 42.8 percent.

“These are huge,” McCabe said.

In 2016 there were 31,848 votes, with 14,032 by absentee.

There were extensive preparations this year to conduct an election during the COVID-19 pandemic. Voters who arrived in-person at their polling locations were masked, as were poll workers who conducted strict sanitization procedures. McCabe said the election went smoothly.

“We didn’t have any issues, and we didn’t have any issues on Election Day, especially considering we got a lot of new poll workers. They did a great job,” she said. She could not estimate the number of new poll workers.

“We had a lot of new people sign up. We had a lot of extra. We never have extra.”

The next board meeting will be held at 5 p.m. Nov. 23 at its headquarters, 52180 National Road, St. Clairsville.