Ashland County voters backed the Republican statewide ticket at home on Nov. 3 even as Democrats won Ohio’s top races, according to Associated Press county results for the county, with 38 of Ashland County’s 39 precincts reporting — 97.44 percent, an estimated 98 percent of the county’s vote counted. All results remain unofficial until the Ashland County Board of Elections completes its official canvass and certifies them.
In the governor’s race, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy carried Ashland County with 12,626 votes to Democrat Amy Acton’s 6,259, with Libertarian Don Kissick at 978, according to the Associated Press. Statewide, the Associated Press called the race for Acton, who will succeed Gov. Mike DeWine in January and become the first woman elected governor in Ohio history.
In the special election for Ohio’s U.S. Senate seat, Republican Jon Husted carried Ashland County with 12,685 votes to Democrat Sherrod Brown’s 5,850, with Libertarian William Redpath at 825 and independent Greg Levy at 519, according to the Associated Press. Statewide, the Associated Press called the seat for Brown, returning him to the Senate to serve the remainder of the term that runs to January 2029.
Ashland County also voted heavily for State Issue 3, the constitutional amendment writing Ohio’s voter photo ID requirement into the state constitution. County voters approved it 15,496 to 4,322, according to the Associated Press, a margin in line with the statewide result, where the issue passed with about two-thirds of the vote in the Ohio Secretary of State’s final unofficial tally.
The closest local decision came on the Ashland County Board of Developmental Disabilities levy, a renewal and increase from 2.1 mills to 3.1 mills for the Dale-Roy programs. The board’s unofficial results, reported by the Ashland Times-Gazette, showed it defeated by fewer than 300 votes — 9,987 against to 9,690 for — close enough that the remaining eligible ballots will matter. A combined children services and senior citizens services renewal passed comfortably, 11,764 to 7,890, in the same unofficial count.
What happens next is the verification work. Under the Ohio Secretary of State’s canvass directive, voters who cast a provisional ballot or whose absentee ballot was flagged for missing information have four days after Election Day — through Saturday, Nov. 7 — to provide the required identification or correct the deficiency, and eligible military and overseas ballots received by mail in that window are also counted. “Election Night gives us the initial, unofficial results,” Secretary of State Frank LaRose said in a Nov. 3 statement from his office. “The days and weeks that follow confirm that those results are accurate.”
The Ashland County Board of Elections, at 110 Cottage St. in Ashland, must begin its official canvass no earlier than Sunday, Nov. 8 and no later than Wednesday, Nov. 18, and must complete the canvass and certify the county’s results by Tuesday, Nov. 24, under Directive 2026-48. The Secretary of State’s office then reviews the county certifications before the final statewide certification. NewsForce247 will update this article when Ashland County’s certified totals are posted.