AKRON, Ohio — Summit County voters turned out at a rate not seen in a midterm in two decades on Tuesday, Nov. 3, casting 228,013 ballots for 61 percent turnout, according to Signal Akron reporting Board of Elections figures — the county’s highest midterm turnout since 2006. All results remain unofficial until certification later this month.
At the top of the ballot, the county backed the Democratic winners by wide margins, according to Associated Press tallies of the unofficial returns. Democrat Amy Acton received 138,467 votes for governor to 80,257 for Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and 6,668 for Libertarian Don Kissick. For U.S. Senate, Democrat Sherrod Brown received 132,890 votes to 82,026 for Republican Jon Husted, 5,597 for Libertarian William Redpath and 4,761 for independent Greg Levy, according to the Associated Press, which called both races statewide on election night and reported 362 of 371 precincts reporting.
County voters also supported State Issue 3, which places Ohio’s photo ID requirement in the state constitution. According to Associated Press tallies, 133,673 voters said yes and 87,127 said no, about 61 percent to 39 percent. Statewide, unofficial returns through the Ohio Secretary of State showed Issue 3 approved.
For County Council at-large, where the top three finishers win seats, Democrats Elizabeth Walters, John A. Donofrio and Erin Dickinson finished first, second and third, according to Signal Akron reporting the Board of Elections results — Walters with 117,735 votes, Donofrio with 115,473 and Dickinson with 113,835. U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes was also reelected in Ohio’s 13th District, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
School tax questions split across the county, according to the Akron Beacon Journal reporting unofficial Board of Elections results. Voters approved the requests in Cuyahoga Falls, with 51 percent of nearly 17,800 votes, in Stow-Munroe Falls, with 57 percent of roughly 19,100 votes for a renewal, and in Tallmadge, with 53 percent of roughly 9,500 votes, the Beacon Journal reported. Voters rejected Barberton’s proposed earned income tax, opposed by 62 percent, and Norton’s, opposed by 60 percent.
The turnout built all day. The Akron Beacon Journal reported that Pete Zeigler, deputy director of the Board of Elections, said nearly 50 percent of registered voters had cast ballots by midafternoon, including early votes, with no major disruptions. Signal Akron reported board chairman Bill Rich put registered voters at 376,027, and the Ohio Secretary of State’s absentee reporting for the county, updated Nov. 4, listed 81,912 absentee records.
Nothing becomes official until the canvass ends. The Akron Beacon Journal reported the board plans to meet Nov. 23 to certify local results, with certification required by Nov. 24 — the deadline in Ohio Secretary of State Directive 2026-48, which directs boards to certify no later than the twenty-first day after the election. During the official canvass, the board reconciles precinct returns and counts remaining eligible ballots, including provisional and timely military and overseas ballots, before filing certified results with the Secretary of State. Until then, every margin in this story is unofficial.
Photo: Andre Carrotflower, CC BY-SA 4.0