Obama's victory in Ohio was enough to push him over the 270 electoral vote line allowing him to win the election. At first the Romney campaign contested the call, but conceded at about 1:00 A.M. President Obama's victory in the state can be attributed to several factors; he only won 17 out of Ohio's 88 counties. However, those 17 counties combined account for 56.56% of its total population. Romney did do well in most rural areas of the state, particularly in western Ohio. Romney also won all but one county in the
Appalachia region, becoming the first Republican since
Richard Nixon’s 2,900-plus-county landslide in
1972 to carry
Belmont,
Jefferson and
Monroe Counties, and losing only
Athens County, home of
Ohio University. He also managed to flip the swing counties of
Lake and
Tuscarawas. Romney also did well in the northern Columbus suburbs. For Romney, most of his wins came from smaller populated counties. Obama won by comfortable margins in
Franklin,
Hamilton, and
Lucas counties, home to the cities of
Columbus,
Cincinnati, and
Toledo, respectively. Obama's greatest support came from northeast Ohio, centered in
Cuyahoga and
Summit counties, home to the cities of
Cleveland and
Akron, respectively, the second and fourth largest cities in the state. The surrounding Cleveland–Akron–Canton metropolitan area and the Lake Erie shore went mostly to Obama, allowing him to carry the state as a whole by a modest 2.98% margin. In February 2013, nineteen cases of
voter fraud were investigated in
Hamilton County. Three individuals were charged with voter fraud the following month, with one individual alleged to have voted six times. These incidents would not have affected the outcome of the Ohio race as President Obama ultimately carried the state by 166,272 votes. Some experts believe that the popularity of the
auto industry bailout put in place under President Obama helped him take the state. ==See also==