Early voting is under way in Butler County, where voters are deciding far more than the statewide races at the top of the Nov. 3 general election ballot. At the county Board of Elections in Hamilton, residents are working through a long local ballot that includes a countywide mental health levy renewal, major school funding questions, township fire and police levies, a contested county commissioner race and charter changes in Oxford and Trenton.
The countywide question drawing the most attention is Issue 6, a renewal of Butler County’s mental health tax levy — 1 mill for 10 years — that supports the Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Services board. County commissioners voted in July to send the renewal to voters, with Commissioners Cindy Carpenter and T.C. Rogers approving the ballot question. Because it is a renewal, the levy would continue an existing tax rather than create a new one, and supporters say the services it funds — crisis response, addiction treatment and mental health care — have no other dedicated local funding source waiting behind it.
School voters face some of the largest dollar figures on the ballot. Lakota Local School District, the county’s largest district, is asking for a $223.5 million bond issue over 37 years, estimated at about $77 per $100,000 of appraised property value. Fairfield City School District voters will decide a 1.25 percent earnings tax for five years, Northwest Local is seeking a 1.5 percent earnings tax for a continuing period, and Southwest Local is asking for a 0.25 percent earnings tax, also continuing.
Township and village voters have their own public-safety questions. Fairfield Township is asking for a 2.99-mill continuing police levy expected to raise about $2.45 million a year, Hanover Township is seeking a 3.5-mill fire levy for five years, Madison Township is asking to renew its 3-mill fire and EMS levy for five years, and the village of New Miami has both a 5-mill police levy and a 3-mill continuing fire levy on the ballot. College Corner voters will decide a renewal of a 5.2-mill fire levy.
The ballot also carries a contested race for county commissioner. Democrat Mike Miller, a longtime Southwest Ohio resident and youth sports coach, is running for the seat, while Republican Michael Ryan reached the general election after defeating incumbent Commissioner Cindy Carpenter — who had held the office since 2011 — in the Republican primary, a race in which the county Republican Party endorsed Ryan and made what records show was its largest donation in a decade to his campaign. Butler County voters will also see common pleas and appeals court judgeships, state representative races across the county’s four House districts, and Democrat Amy Hines running for county auditor.
Two communities are voting on their charters. Oxford voters will decide two sets of charter amendments covering sections dealing with council and administrative procedures, while Trenton voters face a charter amendment that would prohibit construction of a data center in the city — one of several data-center fights playing out on ballots across Ohio this fall. Every Butler County ballot also includes the statewide races for governor, attorney general, auditor, secretary of state and treasurer, the U.S. Senate race, two Ohio Supreme Court seats, and statewide Issue 3, the proposed constitutional amendment on voter identification.
Early in-person voting is available only at the Butler County Board of Elections, 1802 Princeton Road, Suite 600, in Hamilton. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday this week, with Saturday hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 24, and extended hours in the final week — 7:30 a.m. starts running through Sunday, Nov. 1, the last day of early voting. Voters who want to vote by mail must get their absentee application to the board by 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 27, and voted mail ballots must be received by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day. Polls on Tuesday, Nov. 3 are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and voters can check their registration, sample ballot and polling place at VoteOhio.gov or by calling the board at 513-887-3700.