Auditor Sweeps all 78 Precincts
Geauga County Auditor Chuck Walder will likely retain his job after easily outdistancing state Rep. Diane Grendell in the May 3 Republican primary election.
Geauga County Auditor Chuck Walder will likely retain his job after easily outdistancing state Rep. Diane Grendell in the May 3 Republican primary election.
No Democrat filed for the position before the filing deadline.
Walder received 67% of the total, with 10,805 votes. Grendell, R-Chesterland, received just 5,439 votes, coming in with 33% after unofficial results were posted for all precincts.
Walder’s victory was so decisive he won all 78 precincts in the county, including the nine precincts in Grendell’s home township, Chester.
Reached Tuesday night, Walder said the win was an incredibly emotional one.
“I’m very humbled by what’s happened,” said Walder. “I have an outstanding team of people that have done a lot of really good work for the county for four years. And while I get to sit here and take the accolades and attaboys, it’s not just me. It’s a whole group of people.”
Walder also expressed gratitude for the many people – elected officials in particular – who took on “incredible risk” in publicly supporting his campaign.
“That’s never been done in my memory in Geauga, especially against this group, because there’s a lot of fear,” he said, referring to Grendell and her supporters. “And both at the county level as well as the local government level – trustees, fiscal officers, the county treasurer and prosecutor – they put it all out there. And that, I think, is what I’m most humbled about, that people would take that kind of a risk for me.”
While he knew he has been doing the right thing in his role with the county, he needed this reassuring message from voters.
“I’m not one that runs victory laps, I’m more a let’s get down to work (person),” he said.
Regarding the hard-fought fight against Grendell, Walder said he ran the campaign he thought should be run.
“I’m not going to comment on their style of campaigning,” Walder said. “I think it speaks for itself.”
Walder said he was disappointed he could not answer questions from the public at a League of Women Voters of Geauga candidates forum last week, to address what he felt were false statements made by Grendell’s campaign. Grendell was a no-show at the event.
Over the course of election day, Walder said he and his wife, Karen, split up in order to visit every polling location in the county.
“You don’t realize how big the county is,” he said. “You only have 11 hours to get around and there’s a lot of turf.”
Walder expressed gratitude for the “army” of volunteers who sat in the rain all day, displaying his campaign signs and greeting voters.
“It’s very overwhelming. I’ve never experienced anything like this in my life,” he said. “This is just something that I am very grateful for, and I take it very seriously and I will continue to do my job.”
Grendell did not respond to a request for comment.
The four-year post, commencing March 3, 2023, pays an annual salary of $96,589, according to the Geauga County Auditor’s Office.
