ASHLAND — Ashland County had the highest voter turnout among its neighbors on Tuesday, shattering the expectations of both election officials and candidates.
Of the county’s 34,493 registered voters, 5,108 ballots were cast during the Aug. 2 primary, resulting in a whopping 14.8%.
The Aug. 2 election was technically a second primary, prompted by a contentious, drawn-out redistricting process that involved the creation of Ohio House District 67, which envelopes all of Ashland County and part of Medina County.
Shannon Johnson, director of Ashland’s board of elections, said in late July she expected voter turnout to hover around 7%, based on historic turnouts for elections held in August — though she had a hunch voters would cast more ballots for this one because of the race between Melanie Miller and two other Republican contenders.
“I think the local name drew the turnout county-wide,” Johnson said.
Miller won in a landslide. She earned 62.3% of the vote, compared to Ron Falconi’s 30.5% and Terry Robertson’s 7.2%. The political newcomer faces Drew Burge, a Democrat from Medina County, in November.
But the precincts reporting the most turnout in Ashland County is what surprised Johnson the most.
“I thought (the city of Ashland) would drive the numbers, but some of the precincts, like Loudonville, had 11 or 12%. And Jeromesville had over 14% turnout,” she said.
The chart below shows voter turnout percentages of Ashland County’s neighbors:
Voter turnout in Ashland County was still low, comparatively speaking.
May’s primary drew a 26.8% turnout and the general election last November saw 26.7%. In November 2020, 76.8% of Ashland County’s registered voters cast a ballot.
Having two separate primaries probably didn’t help turnouts in other counties that didn’t have contested races, Johnson said.
“And tax money could have been used in a better way. If they had approved district maps in May, we wouldn’t have had to spend this money with just a single primary,” she said.
Johnson couldn’t pinpoint an exact number, but said the board of elections received a $125,000 grant ahead of Aug. 2’s election.
Johnson said she is concerned with the difficulty involved in recruiting enough poll workers for both primaries. In May, the office had a shortage of 40 workers. This time around, the office had around five workers that needed to be filled.
She said the board will vote on giving poll workers raises ahead of the November election. The last time the county’s poll workers received raises was in 2017, she said.
“It’s a long day, they deserve a bump in pay — absolutely. We have good folks,” Johnson said.
The board will meet Aug. 17 at 3:30 p.m. to certify the Aug. 2 election results. The board will also vote to certify questions and issues that will appear on the ballot in November.
