PORTSMOUTH — Scioto County voters backed Republicans across the ballot on Tuesday, Nov. 3, even as Democrats won Ohio’s statewide races, according to unofficial results from the Scioto County Board of Elections. A total of 21,782 ballots were cast out of 42,744 registered voters, a turnout of 50.96 percent, the board’s unofficial summary shows.
In the county’s headline local race, Republican Steven Will Mault won a full term on the Scioto County Board of Commissioners, defeating Democrat Abby Spears 62.9 percent to 36.6 percent with all 77 precincts reporting, according to unofficial results from the Scioto County Board of Elections reported by the Scioto Valley Guardian. Write-in candidate Thomas Hamilton received 0.4 percent. In the county’s other commissioner contest, for an unexpired term, Republican Merit Smith defeated write-in candidate Kathryn Cochran 94.2 percent to 5.8 percent, the Scioto Valley Guardian reported.
At the top of the ticket, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy carried Scioto County in the governor’s race with 13,163 votes to Democrat Amy Acton’s 7,741 and Libertarian Don Kissick’s 603, according to the Scioto County Board of Elections summary. In the U.S. Senate race, Republican Jon Husted received 12,944 votes in the county to Democrat Sherrod Brown’s 7,464, Libertarian William Redpath’s 603 and independent Greg Levy’s 487, according to the board’s summary and the Associated Press county results.
Scioto County voters also backed Republicans for the courthouse’s statewide offices on the ballot: Keith Faber received 13,654 votes for attorney general to John J. Kulewicz’s 7,230, and Frank LaRose received 14,082 votes for auditor of state to Annette Blackwell’s 7,303, according to the Scioto County Board of Elections. In the 90th District state representative race, Republican Justin Pizzulli received 14,466 votes to Democrat Collin Docterman’s 7,049, the board reported.
On State Issue 3, the proposed photo ID constitutional amendment, Scioto County voted yes by a wide margin — 15,429 yes votes to 5,222 no votes, according to the Scioto County Board of Elections.
Local tax questions fared well. Voters in the city of Portsmouth approved a current operations tax levy, 62.1 percent to 37.9 percent, and voters in New Boston approved a flood defense levy, 67.8 percent to 32.2 percent, according to the Scioto Valley Guardian’s report of the board’s unofficial results.
Three Scioto County judicial seats were uncontested, including the Court of Common Pleas seat won by Mark E. Kuhn for the term beginning Jan. 1, 2027, according to the Scioto Valley Guardian.
All of these results remain unofficial. The Scioto Valley Guardian, citing the Ohio Secretary of State, reported 15 outstanding absentee ballots and 458 outstanding provisional ballots still to be counted in the county. What happens next is the canvass: the Scioto County Board of Elections will count the eligible outstanding ballots and certify the county’s results later this month, after which any race inside Ohio’s automatic-recount margin would be reviewed under state law.
Photo: Vasiliymeshko, CC BY