TIFFIN — Seneca County voters backed Republican candidates in Ohio’s biggest races on Tuesday, Nov. 3, even as Democrats won those same contests statewide, according to unofficial results reported for the county with 50 of its 51 precincts reporting. All results in Seneca County remain unofficial until the Seneca County Board of Elections completes its official canvass and certifies the election.
In the race for governor, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy carried Seneca County with 10,290 votes to 7,380 for Democrat Amy Acton, according to the Associated Press county results. Acton won the governorship statewide. The county split the same way in the special election for U.S. senator: Republican Jon Husted received 10,500 votes in Seneca County to 6,912 for Democrat Sherrod Brown, with Libertarian William Redpath receiving 855 and independent Greg Levy 522, according to the Associated Press. Brown won the Senate seat statewide and will return to Washington.
The pattern held for secretary of state. Republican Robert Sprague led in Seneca County with 11,279 votes to 6,692 for Democrat Allison Russo and 692 for Libertarian Tom Pruss, according to the Associated Press, while Russo won the office statewide and will become Ohio’s chief elections officer in January. About 18,800 votes were cast in the county’s top-of-the-ballot races in the unofficial count.
On the one statewide ballot question, Seneca County voted heavily to write a photo identification requirement into the Ohio Constitution. State Issue 3 drew 13,898 yes votes in the county to 4,858 no votes, according to the Associated Press, and the amendment also passed statewide. Ohio already required photo ID under state law; Issue 3 places that requirement in the constitution.
In congressional voting, Decision Desk HQ reported Republican U.S. Rep. Bob Latta leading in Seneca County by about 25 percentage points in the 5th District, with 18,803 votes cast in that race in the county. In the 88th Ohio House District, which covers Sandusky County and part of Seneca County, The News-Messenger reported Republican state Rep. Gary Click won reelection district-wide with 21,750 votes, or 58.57 percent, to 15,386 for Democrat Aaron Jones.
County voters also decided a race for Seneca County commissioner between Republican incumbent Bill Frankart and independent challenger David Ziegler, along with the 10-year, 0.7-mill renewal levy for the Mental Health and Recovery Services Board of Seneca, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wyandot Counties that appeared on every county ballot. NewsForce247 is reporting those local outcomes only from the board of elections’ own figures, and the board’s complete unofficial report and official canvass — not election-night tallies alone — will confirm the final margins in the commissioner race and the levy.
What happens next is the certification process. The Seneca County Board of Elections, at 71 S. Washington St. in Tiffin, will review provisional and any remaining eligible ballots, conduct its official canvass and certify the county’s results in the coming weeks. The Ohio Secretary of State then certifies the statewide races and Issue 3. Until those certifications are filed, every Nov. 3 number — in Seneca County and across Ohio — stays unofficial.