Voter turnout tops 46 percent in Delaware County

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Delaware County voters turned out in big numbers for an odd-year election on Tuesday.

According to the county Board of Elections website, 46.55 percent of county voters cast ballots in this year’s election. All told, 57,764 of the county’s 124,080 registered voters visited polling places.

Since 1991, Delaware County has generally enjoyed above-average voter turnout in odd-year elections. Voter turnout has topped 40 percent eight times during that span. On two occasions (1991, 2011), more than 50 percent of Delaware County’s registered voters cast ballots.

A 1.7-mill renewal levy for the Delaware Area Career Center received the blessing of county voters Tuesday, winning passage by more than 10,000 votes. The final, unofficial tally, was 27,815 in favor of the renewal and 17,415 against it.

“I’m very grateful to our voters and our many volunteers; for their trust and their support,” said Mary Beth Freeman, DACC superintendent. “It speaks to how much we value our partnership with the community. We take our role very seriously to prepare our students for the workforce. Thanks to all of our staff, the work that they do to make sure they are creating an environment that’s best for kids and without them we couldn’t have the great outcomes that we do. Thank you to our voters and our community and to our students. We have great students, they come with a purpose and a goal and come here and work hard and make our community proud.”

Eight incumbents held onto their seats in the 14 races that featured opposition candidates. Orange Township Trustee Lisa Knapp faced four competitors in her re-election bid and ended up winning by more than 1,000 votes.

Also completing successful re-election campaigns on Tuesday were Shawnee Hills Mayor Patrick Monahan; Powell Council member Jon C. Bennehoof; Ostrander Council member Robert Taylor; Porter Township Trustee Ed Snodgrass; Radnor Township Trustee Theresa Watkins; and Olentangy Local Board of Education members Kevin G. O’Brien and Roger M. Bartz.

Local voters lent overwhelming support to State Issues 1 and 2, but soundly rejected Issue 3. Issue 1 was a constitutional amendment that would create a bipartisan, public process for drawing legislative districts. Issue 2 was an anti-monopoly amendment. Issue 3 was the amendment that would have granted a monopoly for the commercial production and sale of marijuana for recreational and medicinal purposes.

Issue 1 passed muster with 40,860 local voters in support and just 13,233 opposed. Statewide, the issue garnered support from 71.46 percent of voters.

Delaware County voters supported Issue 2 by nearly a 10,000-vote margin, with 33,246 in favor and 23,567 opposed. Statewide, the issue passed with 51.58 percent of voters casting ballots in favor of it.

Local citizens stood firmly in opposition to Issue 3, as 42,003 “no” votes were cast compared to just 15,497 “yes” votes. Ohioans rejected the proposed amendment with 64.1 percent voting no.

Following is a summary of local election results in contested races and local issues and levies. Incumbent candidates are denoted with an “I” in parentheses.

Village Mayor

Village of Shawnee Hills — Patrick Monahan (I) 204; Carol J. Kender 116

City Council

City of Delaware, 4th Ward (1 seat) — Kyle Rohrer 1,116; Rand Guebert 819

City of Powell (3 seats) — Brendan Newcomb 2,008; Jon C. Bennehoof (I) 1,861; Daniel Swartwout 1,852; Chris Shear 1,676

Village Council

Village of Ostrander (2 seats) — Robert Taylor (I) 174; Julie R. Guy 150; Joseph H. Proemm 66

Township Trustee

Brown Township (1 seat) — Steve Cole 210; James E. Andres (I) 199; Larry A. Beard 86

Genoa Township (1 seat) — Frank Dantonio 4,038; Leo Wilhelm (I) 2,510

Orange Township (1 seat) — Lisa Knapp (I) 2,767; Todd Dove 1,714; Rick Beer 1,269; Garrick Ducat 418; Genevieve Hoffman 341

Porter Township (1 seat) — Ed Snodgrass (I) 437; Douglas P. Crowl 245

Radnor Township (1 seat) — Theresa Watkins (I) 487; Jim Cochran 176

Scioto Township (1 seat) — Ralph Moseley 589; Thomas Brown (I) 466

Fiscal Officer

Harlem Township — Julie Debolt 839; Sherrie Steele 350

Liberty Township — Nancy Denutte 4,266; Mark Gerber (I) 3,050

Board of Education

Buckeye Valley Local School District (2 seats) — Amy Dutt 2,695; Jeff White 2,207; J.R. Roden (I) 2,057; Randy Turner 1,217

Olentangy Local School District (3 seats) — Mindy Patrick 10,704; Kevin G. O’Brien (I) 8,157; Roger M. Bartz (I) 7,320; Ken O’Brien 6,812; Andrew Forgrave 6,187; Martin Johnson 4,028

The following is a list of tax levies, bond issues and ballot measures that local voters decided on Tuesday:

Delaware Area Career Center (1.7-mill renewal levy) — For 27,815; Against 17,415

Buckeye Valley Local School District ($31.3M bond issue for new schools) — For 3,238; Against 3,257 (Includes votes from Marion, Morrow and Union counties)

City of Powell (Referendum on zoning ordinance) — Yes 1,870; No 2,242

Village of Ashley (3-mill renewal levy for road maintenance) — For 215; Against 112

Village of Ashley (Liquor Option, Rusted Nail Tavern) — Yes 274; No 53

Village of Ashley (Sunday Sales, Rusted Nail Tavern) — Yes 234; No 93

Village of Shawnee Hills (Natural Gas Aggregation) — Yes 187; No 129

Genoa Township (Electric Aggregation) —Yes 5,673; No 1,974

Genoa Township (Natural Gas Aggregation) — Yes 5,727; No 1,940

Orange Township fire levy (7-mill tax levy) — For 6,062; Against 1,936

Oxford Township (0.6-mill replacement levy for operating expenses) — For 261; Against 89

Fort Morrow Consolidated Fire District levy — For 89; Against 31

Elm Valley Joint Fire District levy — For 510; Against 161

Visit the Delaware County Board of Elections website for complete results at http://www.co.delaware.oh.us/boe/.

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By Andrew Carter

[email protected]

Andrew Carter can be reached at 740-413-0902 and on Twitter @AndrewCarterDG.

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