Interest in Statewide Issues Drove Strong Voter Turnout in East Ohio
Robert A. DeFrank Trending
Voter turnout was high Tuesday for an "off" year election, with two statewide issues as well as some local decisions driving Ohioans to the polls.
Buckeye State residents voted in favor of Issue 1, enshrining abortion and other reproductive rights in the state constitution, and said "yes" to Issue 2, legalizing recreational marijuana. A majority of Belmont County's voters opposed both, with 7,545 in favor of Issue 1 and 11,181 opposed, while 8,987 voted for and 9,646 against Issue 2.
Belmont County Board of Elections Deputy Director Kamron Chervenak reported some significant participation. The unofficial totals from Election Day show 19,005 votes cast by the county's 43,825 voters.
"At Belmont County we saw a 43.37% turnout, which tends to be a little bit higher of a number for an odd-year election. Those were those two statewide issues that seem to have brought more attention to this election," she said.
"We were absolutely prepared to deploy all of our machines and our poll workers on Election Day. We had some new poll workers, and we had some returning poll workers as well that we see every election. We performed another safe, accurate and fair election in Belmont County, and everything went smoothly as well," she said.
Chervenak said the requirements to present photo identification did not present a large-scale problem, though there were some issues involving provisional ballots.
"We did receive some provisionals in which they did not provide ID at the polls, however they had the opportunity to come to our office and present us with that ID until Monday (today) at 5 p.m.," she said. "I'm really not sure of the actual number. I know that we had about 200 provisionals altogether though. That could be things like moving or name changes. We are currently in the process of going through and reviewing these provisionals and seeing why these people voted provisionally on Election Day. At this time, we don't have a number as far as how many of those are due to lack of identification at the polls."
She said the provisional ballots will be reviewed and certified Wednesday.
"We are wrapping up this election now. However, we are also preparing for the primary election in March. They kind of run close together," she said. "That will be March 19, and with that, we will have to have more poll workers for the election. There will be a higher requirement. We will be looking for poll workers for that primary."
On Tuesday night, elections board member Michael Shaheen was on hand to speak about the proceedings and results.
"Absolutely no problems. It went off without a hitch. Our machines worked fine and we're very grateful," he said, adding the newer poll workers have gained experience with their duties and many are expected to return.
He added that the ballots will be canvassed at 8 a.m. Nov. 20 and the certification will be at 11 a.m. Nov. 27.
In Harrison County, Board of Elections Director Dion Troiano commented on the turnout.
"Compared to past years, we're running somewhere around the average in our county, because our past elections in off-number years have ranged somewhere between 35-45-50%. We're sitting at roughly 47%. We're going to be 48-49% after we do our official canvass, so we're pretty on track," he said.
Troiano said the state average was 48.86%, with expectations in the high 50s or 60%. A total of 4,645 of the county's 9,811 voters cast a ballot, with 1,727 voting for Issue 1 and 2,819 against, and 2,030 voting for Issue 2 and 2,533 against.
"People in other counties were expecting more people to turn up. We were, simply because of what the two state issues were and what they were all about, with the number of signs we had seen and what other advertising they were doing around the state," he said. "I don't think it was a bad turnout. I think it was a pretty decent turnout for being an odd-numbered year election and having three elections in a year."
He referred to the August special election. He also said comparatively few people sought office.
Troiano said photo identification issues were resolved.
"We have a pretty decent Amish population, and a lot of them have a religious objection to being photographed. They had to fill out an affidavit that they released for us to use for that because of the strict photo ID requirement," he said. "No one's complained about the ID requirements."
He said the provisional meeting and canvass will be held Nov. 14. He said Harrison County has 45 provisional ballots. The post-election audit is set for Nov. 20.
Monroe County Elections Director Molly Landefeld reported a 45.52% turnout. A total of 4,176 of the 9,175 registered voters cast a ballot, with 1,338 voting in favor of Issue 1 and 2,773 against, and 1,795 voting for Issue 2 and 2,323 against.
"We definitely had an increase in voter turnout and voter participation here in Monroe County. Typically we have probably between 32-35% voter turnout," she said.
"This definitely was closer to a midterm election than an odd-year election," she said, adding there were no complaints raised about photo identification. The official canvass will be Nov. 20, along with officiating the results.
Several voters spoke Tuesday about what brought them to the polls.
Adam Perzanowski of St. Clairsville, voting at the J.B. Martin Recreation Center in St. Clairsville, commented on the number of people showing up.
"The thing I was surprised about is how many people are out here voting. There was a line when I got here and I never had a line here, especially when it's not a presidential election or a midterm election. I thought that was wonderful," he said. "I do think it's two hotly-debated issues that'll have big ramifications moving forward."
Gurmet Singh of St. Clairsville, a neurologist who has lived in the area for more than 30 years, was also casting his vote.
"These elections are important to me," he said. "My views have evolved over the years, but I still am of the opinion of 'live and let live.' So I think people should be able to use their own choices and their own preferences."
He added that he had no problems with the photo identification requirement.