PAULDING, Ohio — Paulding County voters backed Republican candidates in the top statewide races on Tuesday, Nov. 3, even as Democrats won those races across Ohio, according to the Associated Press tabulation of unofficial results, with 15 of the county’s 16 precincts reporting and an estimated 98 percent of the vote counted. All results are unofficial until the official canvass is complete.
For governor, Paulding County gave Republican Vivek Ramaswamy 5,861 votes to 2,655 votes for Democrat Amy Acton, according to the Associated Press. Acton won the governorship statewide. In the U.S. Senate special election, the county gave Republican Jon Husted 5,879 votes to 2,459 for Democrat Sherrod Brown, with Libertarian William Redpath at 399 and independent Greg Levy at 194, according to the Associated Press. Brown won the Senate seat statewide.
On State Issue 3, the proposed constitutional amendment to require photo identification to vote, Paulding County voted yes by 7,192 votes to 1,725 no votes, according to the Associated Press. Issue 3 passed statewide.
In the 9th Congressional District, Paulding County favored Republican Derek Merrin by a margin of about 40.6 points, according to Decision Desk HQ’s county breakdown, even as Democratic U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur won the district with 159,306 votes to Merrin’s 142,830 and a 23rd term, Decision Desk HQ reported.
None of these figures is final. The Ohio Secretary of State states on its Ohio Decides site that results are unofficial until it certifies them, that the official canvass is completed approximately three weeks after the election, and that eligible military and overseas absentee ballots have up to four days after Election Day to arrive and be counted, with qualifying provisional ballots considered during the canvass.
Paulding County’s pattern — voting Republican at home while Democrats carried the state — was shared by most of Ohio’s smaller rural counties on Nov. 3, and it is why the statewide winners will govern a state whose county map still leans heavily the other way. The county’s first-pass election story in October previewed a ballot led by those same statewide races; the second-pass returns now show how decisively local voters answered them.
What happens next is the Paulding County canvass. The county board of elections will review provisional and timely absentee ballots, complete its official canvass and certify its results in November, after which the Secretary of State reviews county reports before statewide certification.