Polls close, votes being tabulated in statehouse and local races

Credit: Marshall Gorby

Credit: Marshall Gorby

Ohio polling locations are now closed, and votes are being tabulated for one of the most unusual Ohio elections in recent memory.

Voters cast ballots today in party primaries for Ohio statehouse seats, determining which candidates will move on to the general election in November. There were competitive races in Greene, Butler and Warren county districts, with candidates in some other areas running unopposed.

Other issues on Tuesday’s ballots included changes to the city charter in Xenia, school levies in Clark County’s Clark-Shawnee district and Butler County’s Ross district, and races for the state central committee of the Republican and Democratic political parties.

We will have live results updated throughout the evening.

Credit: Marshall Gorby

Credit: Marshall Gorby

At the closing of the polls, 12,082 Warren County voters had cast their ballots in today’s special primary election. That’s in addition to the 4,061 voters who cast their ballots during early voting, bringing voter turnout to 9.48%.

Brian Sleeth, Warren County elections director, said there were no traditional “morning rushes” at any of the precincts today when people heading to work stop to vote. Sleeth said there were plenty of calls from residents who were not aware of today’s special primary election.

Turnout was light in Montgomery County, Board of Elections Director Jeff Rezabek said at 2 p.m.

“Similar to what we experienced in early voting and absentee,” he said.

Montgomery County had a little over 1,000 early voters and under 2,000 absentee ballots cast before Tuesday. There are about 368,000 eligible voters in Montgomery County.

Rezabek said polls opened on time Tuesday morning and “everything from our point of view at this time is running pretty smooth.”

If you saw problems at your polling location today, reach out to our newsroom by email at bnt@coxinc.com.

Today’s statehouse primary votes were supposed to take place in May. But they were delayed when the Ohio Supreme Court repeatedly rejected new district maps backed by Republicans, saying they were unconstitutionally gerrymandered to favor Republicans.