CALDWELL — Early voting is under way in Noble County, Ohio’s least populous county, where the Nov. 3 general election ballot is topped locally by a state representative race with roots in the county seat and a courthouse slate that includes a new judge. The Noble County Board of Elections, at 140 Courthouse in Caldwell, is open for early in-person voting from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday this week.
The most closely watched local race is for state representative in the 95th Ohio House District, which covers all of Noble County. Republican incumbent Ty Moore is a Caldwell native and third-generation woodworker who was elected Noble County commissioner three times beginning in 2016, then appointed to the House seat in mid-2025 when it came open. He faces Democrat Paul Cameron of St. Clairsville in his first election to the seat.
At the courthouse, voters will decide who holds the county’s Common Pleas Court judgeship. Kelly Riddle is the candidate on the ballot for judge of the Court of Common Pleas, the trial court that handles the county’s felony criminal cases and major civil disputes. The judgeship is elected without party labels on the November ballot.
County administrative offices are also on the ballot, including county auditor, the office that appraises property, calculates taxes and distributes money to the county’s schools and local governments. Township, village and school questions vary by precinct, and voters can preview their exact ballot through the board of elections before they vote.
Noble County’s ballot is a short one by Ohio standards, with no countywide tax levy among the questions certified for November. That puts the emphasis on the people races — the judgeship, the county offices and the legislative contests — and on the statewide decisions every Ohio voter shares this fall.
Above the local races, Noble County voters will help decide Ohio’s statewide contests — governor, attorney general, auditor, secretary of state and treasurer, two seats on the Ohio Supreme Court, the U.S. Senate race between Republican Jon Husted and Democrat Sherrod Brown, and statewide Issue 3, the proposed constitutional amendment that would require voters to present photo identification in order to vote. Turnout in the small county has an outsized voice in those statewide margins, and every race on the ballot is decided by a plurality of votes cast.
Early voting hours expand in the final week: 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 26, 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 27, and 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, Oct. 28 to 30, with weekend hours on Saturday, Oct. 24 and Saturday, Oct. 31, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and a final Sunday session on Nov. 1 from 1 to 5 p.m. Voters must bring an accepted photo ID, such as an Ohio driver’s license, a state ID card or a U.S. passport. On Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, polls will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Early voting in Noble County is held at the board of elections office in the courthouse at 140 Courthouse in Caldwell.