Guernsey County voters backed Republicans up and down the ballot on Nov. 3 — for governor and U.S. senator, they chose the candidates Ohio rejected. In unofficial results from the Guernsey County Board of Elections covering all 35 precincts, 12,904 of the county’s 23,787 registered voters cast ballots, a turnout of 54.25 percent, with 8,014 voting on Election Day and 4,890 voting absentee or early.
For governor, Guernsey County gave Republican Vivek Ramaswamy 7,996 votes (62.94 percent) to Democrat Amy Acton’s 4,059 (31.95 percent), with Libertarian Don Kissick taking 637 — even as Acton won the governorship statewide. For U.S. senator, the county backed Republican Jon Husted with 7,959 votes (62.72 percent) over Democrat Sherrod Brown’s 3,845 (30.30 percent); Brown won that seat statewide. Guernsey voters backed the Republican in every statewide race on their ballot, according to the board of elections’ unofficial summary report.
State Issue 3, the voter photo ID constitutional amendment, passed overwhelmingly in Guernsey County — 10,008 yes votes (79.31 percent) to 2,611 no votes — well above its statewide yes share of about 65 percent.
In the county’s one contested county-office race, incumbent Commissioner Dave Wilson, a Republican, was re-elected with 8,213 votes (64.98 percent) to Democrat Tom Hannon’s 4,427. County Auditor Cory Johnson and Probate/Juvenile Judge David B. Bennett were unopposed. In the county’s portion of Ohio’s 12th Congressional District, Republican Troy Balderson received 8,965 votes to Democrat Jerrad Christian’s 3,717, according to the board’s report.
Countywide levies split. Voters rejected the Guernsey County Children Services levy, 6,461 against to 6,024 for — the only countywide levy to fail. The Senior Center levy passed 9,302 to 3,315, the 911 levy passed 8,505 to 4,000, and the district library levy passed 7,070 to 5,373. A Cambridge City Schools levy passed narrowly, 2,405 to 2,096.
All of these results remain unofficial. Under the Ohio Secretary of State’s Directive 2026-48, county boards begin the official canvass between Nov. 8 and Nov. 18 and must complete it and certify results no later than Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2026, with remaining eligible provisional and overseas ballots counted in that canvass.
Photo: Willjay, CC BY-SA