Muskingum County backed Republicans in the statewide races on Nov. 3 even as Democrats won Ohio’s top offices, according to the county’s unofficial election results published by the Muskingum County Board of Elections.
The board’s unofficial summary reported 29,129 ballots cast out of 53,143 registered voters, for turnout of 54.81%, with all 68 precincts reporting. Early voting accounted for 8,918 ballots and vote by mail for 3,841, with the rest cast on Election Day, according to the board’s summary.
In the governor’s race, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Robert A. McColley carried Muskingum County with 17,147 votes, 59.51%, to 10,213 votes, 35.45%, for Democrat Amy Acton and David Pepper, according to the board’s unofficial results. Acton won the statewide race. In the U.S. Senate race, the Associated Press county results showed Republican Jon Husted leading in Muskingum County with 17,403 votes to 9,642 for Democrat Sherrod Brown, who won statewide.
State Issue 3, the photo ID constitutional amendment, passed overwhelmingly in the county, with 22,169 votes in favor, 77.70%, to 6,362 against, according to the board’s summary. Zanesville’s own congressman, Republican Troy Balderson of the 12th District, is based in Muskingum County, and the county also sits in the 31st Ohio Senate District, where Republican Al Landis won with about 66% district-wide, according to reporting by The Canton Repository.
On local money questions, voters rejected the county’s largest levy ask and approved a series of fire and EMS measures, according to reporting by the Zanesville Times Recorder. The Recorder reported that Philo’s additional 7.25-mill street and road levy failed, 109 votes against to 93 in favor, while South Zanesville’s 3-mill fire and EMS levy passed 263 to 217 and Springfield Township and Washington Township fire and EMS renewals also passed, the Recorder reported.
All of these figures are unofficial. The Muskingum County Board of Elections will conduct its official canvass and certify the county’s results in the coming days, and any provisional or late-arriving absentee ballots included in that process can adjust the final margins before certification.