ASHLAND — Voter turnout in Ashland County increased from the last similar election, according to final, unofficial results from the county board of elections.
Director Shannon Johnson said turnout in the 2019 general election was 25%. Tuesday’s turnout came to 26.5%, or 9,197 ballots. There were 34,651 registered voters.
“Looking at the numbers, turnout in the city was definitely higher than the rest of the county — so that pulled our numbers up,” she said.
The board of election’s unofficial results show a total of 4,955 votes cast within the city of Ashland.
There could be a few explanations for that, she said.
“There were a lot of signs out there — a lot of candidates,” Johnson said.
There were two contested races on Ashland City Council. Jason Chio edged his opponent, Heather Sample, earning 559 votes compared to her 236.
Dennis Miller, the incumbent for Ward 3, earned 497 votes compared to opponent Emily Huestis’ 411.
The bulk of votes within the city, however, went to Mayor Matt Miller, who ran an uncontested race for a second term. He earned 3,002 votes.
The Ashland City School District, the county’s largest voting block, earned a total 10,886 votes. The school board had three seats to fill and seven candidates ran.
Pamela Mowry climbed to the top, in terms of number of votes with 2,419. John Teevan was close behind with 2,407 and Gina Deppert, an incumbent, earned 1,848 votes.
The county also voted on several questions and issues.
The most votes went to the additional 2-mills levy for social services to seniors and children. It garnered 9,077, getting passed with 4,805 votes.
Another significant levy passed for the Ashland County West Holmes Career Center. The issue earned 7,955 votes and passed with 4,181 votes.
Many people, 1,009 to be exact, also voted for the sale of alcohol on Sunday at various establishments, including Aldi, Ohio Fire and South Street Grille in the City of Ashland.
There were nine eligible write-in candidates across the county — each earning close to 700 votes, Johnson said.
Michael Zickefoose, a candidate running for a seat on the Ashland City Schools board, earned 564 of those votes.
“That’s a lot of write-in votes,” Johnson said.
Johnson said tabulating write-in votes takes longer because each ballot needs to be verified by hand. She said without the write-ins, the county board of elections would have finished tabulating votes by 9 o’clock.
“But with write-ins they were released at about 10:30 (p.m.),” she said.
Other than that, everything went “real smooth,” Johnson said.
“We had a familiar group of poll station managers, a few new poll workers — they all stepped up and did a great job,” she said.
Election results need to be certified by Nov. 23.
The board of elections plans to have a meeting Nov. 15 to vote on the validity of the 67 provisional ballots cast in this election.
“Between now and the 15th, our office will investigate why those provisional ballots were cast and verify them. We’ll then make a recommendation to the board to accept or reject those ballots,” Johnson said.
The board will then meet again on Nov. 18 to certify the county’s election results.
To see the county’s full, unofficial results, click here.
