Darke County voters backed Republican candidates in every statewide contest on their Nov. 3 ballot, according to the Darke County Board of Elections’ unofficial canvass, and the county’s results now move toward official certification by Tuesday, Nov. 24.
The board’s election summary report, labeled final for the unofficial canvass at 10:35 p.m. on election night, shows 20,253 ballots cast out of 33,980 registered voters — a turnout of 59.60 percent — with all 43 precincts reporting. Of those ballots, 12,296 were cast at polling places, 6,242 during early voting and 1,715 by mail, according to the board’s report.
In the governor’s race, Darke County gave 14,699 votes to Republicans Vivek Ramaswamy and Robert A. McColley and 4,379 to Democrats Amy Acton and David Pepper, with 908 for Libertarians Don Kissick and James L. Mills, the board reported. In the U.S. Senate contest, Republican Jon Husted received 14,682 Darke County votes to Democrat Sherrod Brown’s 4,169, with Libertarian William B. Redpath at 743 and Greg Levy at 447.
State Issue 3, the proposed constitutional amendment on voter photo identification, carried Darke County by a wide margin in the unofficial count: 16,645 yes votes to 3,301 no votes, according to the board’s summary. Republicans also led the Darke County vote for attorney general, auditor, secretary of state and treasurer in the unofficial results. All of these figures are the county’s vote only, and they remain unofficial until the board completes its canvass.
Locally, the contested county commissioner race went to Republican David J. Coons, who received 14,970 votes to Eddie Anjos’s 4,648 in the unofficial count, the board reported. Voters also favored renewal of the Tri-County Board of Mental Health levy, with 12,080 votes for the levy and 7,637 against it in the unofficial summary.
What happens next is set by the Ohio Secretary of State’s Directive 2026-48 on canvass and certification. Voters who need to cure an absentee or provisional ballot deficiency have through Saturday, Nov. 7, and boards must begin the official canvass no earlier than Sunday, Nov. 8 and no later than Wednesday, Nov. 18. Each board, including Darke County’s, must complete the canvass and certify its results no later than Tuesday, Nov. 24, submitting its certification forms to the Secretary of State the same day.
Until that certification is filed, every Darke County number in this story — turnout, the statewide contests, the commissioner race and the mental health levy — stays in its unofficial form, subject to the additions and corrections the official canvass is designed to catch.