Columbiana County voters backed Republicans by wide margins in Ohio’s top races in the November 3 general election — the opposite of how the state as a whole voted — according to the Columbiana County Board of Elections’ final unofficial results, covering all 73 of the county’s 73 precincts. The board reported 35,214 ballots cast from 63,835 registered voters, a turnout of 55.16 percent, and every figure remains unofficial until the county completes its official canvass and certifies its results.
In the governor’s race, Vivek Ramaswamy and Robert A. McColley received 21,559 votes in Columbiana County (61.94 percent) to 11,561 (33.21 percent) for Amy Acton and David Pepper, the board reported — even as Acton and Pepper won the governorship statewide. The U.S. Senate race broke the same way: Jon Husted received 21,637 votes (62.01 percent) to 10,928 (31.32 percent) for Sherrod Brown, who won the seat statewide.
The Republican sweep ran down the rest of the statewide ballot in Columbiana County, in several cases opposite the statewide winner. Keith Faber took the attorney general’s race in the county with 23,704 votes (68.59 percent), Frank LaRose the auditor’s race with 24,087 (69.49 percent), Robert Sprague the secretary of state’s race with 22,675 (65.41 percent), and Jay Edwards the treasurer’s race with 23,387 (68.31 percent), according to the board’s summary. Both Supreme Court seats went the same way in the county — Daniel R. Hawkins with 23,442 votes (67.89 percent) and Colleen O’Donnell with 23,208 (67.34 percent). In district races, voters backed Michael Rulli for Congress, Al Cutrona for state senator and Monica Robb Blasdel for state representative, while County Commissioner Mike Halleck, County Auditor Nancy Gause Milliken, Probate/Juvenile Judge Thomas Baronzzi and appeals Judge Molly Johnson were each unopposed.
State Issue 3, the proposed constitutional amendment to require voters to present photo identification in order to vote, carried Columbiana County by nearly four to one: 26,936 votes yes (78.61 percent) to 7,328 no, according to the board — support well above the amendment’s statewide margin, in a county that had backed it heavily from the start.
The local questions NewsForce247 previewed in Columbiana County’s first-pass ballot story produced a split verdict in East Palestine. The village’s 2-mill police levy renewal passed narrowly, 775 votes to 713, while the East Palestine school district’s income tax failed decisively, 888 to 1,818, the board reported. Both East Palestine charter amendments passed. In Salem, the city parks levy renewal passed with 2,291 votes (59.38 percent) to 1,567 against.
None of these results is final yet. The board’s unofficial report counts no provisional ballots — the provisional column is zero throughout — and provisional ballots and any late-arriving overseas and military ballots are examined and counted only in the official canvass, so close totals, including East Palestine’s 62-vote police levy margin, can still move. Under Ohio Secretary of State Directive 2026-48, the post-election cure period runs through Saturday, November 7, with boards of elections open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. so voters can cure absentee identification-envelope deficiencies or show photo ID for a provisional ballot.
What happens next is set by that same directive: the official canvass must begin no earlier than Sunday, November 8, and no later than Wednesday, November 18, and the Columbiana County Board of Elections must complete the canvass and certify the county’s results no later than Tuesday, November 24, 2026, the 21st day after the election. Only then do the unofficial margins above become the county’s official word.
Photo: Dustin M. Ramsey, CC BY