By Sherry Larson

People’s Defender

It was a later night than expected for those waiting for the summary of primary votes for the Tuesday, May 3 Ohio primary election. Stephanie Lewis, Adams County Board of Elections Director, explained, “We had to wait to be released from the state longer than normal.” She continued, “The voter turnout was a bit higher than our 2018 turnout. The number of voters in the county was 3,701. Generally, it’s a low turnout on these primaries.” Regarding the larger Republican voter turnout Lewis said, “We’re a strongly Republican county on point with where we usually are.”

Commissioner and candidate Ty Pell, Paul Brown, Adams County Auditor and candidate David Gifford, and I settled in the waiting room. The early vote totals came in around 8 p.m. and it was clear from the start that the Republican vote would dominate the evening in Adams County. The final ballots of the evening were delivered at 10:25 p.m. Commissioner Pell, leading in the first two counts, had disappointing news as he fell behind challenger Kelly Jones by 38 votes.

The Defender reached out to both the Democrat and Republican party representatives.

Stephen Caraway, Adams County Chair of the Executive Committee of the Republican Party, stated, “The supporters of Governor DeWine, Congressman Renacci, and Joe Blystone worked very hard throughout this election. Ohioans have nominated a pro-life, pro-jobs, and experienced governor in Mike DeWine. For the United States Senate, Republicans are well-positioned to win this race in November over Tim Ryan. JD Vance has the conservative credentials to do very well here. Over the past few decades, Adams County has become a solid Republican county. Gone are the days of Democrats being able to mount a serious challenge to our outstanding candidates and experienced elected officials. We are now seeing more Republican primary elections – and that was the case in Commissioner Pell being challenged by local businessman Kelly Jones. Both men are wonderful people, and Ty has done tremendous work as Commissioner. We look forward to working with Kelly and know that he will be a fine Commissioner.”

Matthew Young, Chair of the Democratic Party, responded to the primaries saying, “On the Democratic side, there were many on the ticket running unopposed. I guess I was a little surprised about the results between Cranley and Whaley. I thought it would be closer. When Hamilton County, Cranley’s home county, basically split the vote, I knew he was in trouble. I’m looking forward to DeWine versus Whaley debates in the future. I am incredibly impressed with Tim Ryan. He dominated his election and is a very strong candidate for the U.S. Senate position. Locally, the Commissioner’s race was close. Although many ran unopposed, the November election looks like it will be very interesting as we have some incumbents defending their positions against some newcomers. ” Young also discussed the 5,000 unregistered voters in Adams County, saying, “Excluding any affiliation, I truly believe voting is a duty. As the old saying goes, ‘You can’t complain if you don’t vote.’ It goes much further than this. We have a huge section of Adams County not represented on the local, state, and federal levels. Everyone needs to be heard.”

The Ohio and Adams County winners and unopposed were as follows:

U.S. Senate – Rep. J.D. Vance, Dem. Tim Ryan

Governor – Rep. Mike DeWine, Dem. Nan Whaley

U.S. Representative to Congress 2nd District – Rep. Brad Wenstrup, Dem. Samantha Meadows

Representative 4th District Court of Appeals – Rep. Kristy Wilkin

Common Pleas Court Judge – Dem. Brett M. Spencer

Common Pleas Court Judge – Rep. Barbara Moore

Commissioner – Rep. Kelly Jones

Auditor – Rep. David Gifford

Attorney General – Rep. Dave Yost, Dem. Jeffrey A. Crossman

Auditor of State – Rep. Keith Faber, Dem. Taylor Sappington

Secretary of State – Rep. Frank LaRose, Dem. Chelsea Clark

Treasurer of State – Rep. Robert Sprague, Dem. Schott Schertzer

Supreme Court – Rep. Sharon L. Kennedy, Dem. Jennifer Brunner, Dem. Terri Jamison, Rep. Pat Fischer, Dem. Marilyn Zayas, Rep. Pat DeWine

For full reporting, see https://www.ohiosos.gov/elections/voters/.

Lewis explained, “The only votes we have left are the provisionals, and then we have some outstanding absentee ballots that could possibly be postmarked yesterday that we could still get in the mail. The official will be scheduled for May 24, 2022, at 8:30 a.m.”

There is still no official date for the August primary. Lewis said, “We are still waiting to see what the courts are going to decide.”