Holmes County voters turned out at a 51.73 percent rate in the November 3 general election, according to the Holmes County Board of Elections’ unofficial canvass, with all 17 precincts reporting and 9,071 ballots cast from 17,536 registered voters. The county’s second-pass election story now moves to its next formal step: the board’s official canvass, scheduled for Monday, November 16, at 10 a.m., according to the board’s published meeting schedule.
In the county’s contested courthouse race on the unofficial returns, Republican Ryan Rivers won the county commissioner seat starting January 1, 2027, with 7,097 votes, or 81.16 percent, according to the board’s unofficial canvass. The result was part of a strongly Republican night in one of Ohio’s most conservative counties, even as voters drew a clear line between county and township services and new school taxes.
That line was clearest on the school questions. The Daily Record reported, based on the board’s unofficial results, that no school levy passed in Holmes County: a two-part Loudonville-Perrysville proposal — a new 0.25 percent earned-income tax for 30 years plus a 2.85-mill bond levy tied to a $16.4 million facilities project — failed 160 to 208 on the portion reported by The Daily Record, a new 0.75 percent Triway income tax for three years failed, and a five-year renewal for the Wayne County Joint Vocational School District failed 223 to 293.
County and local services fared far better. The Daily Record reported that 14 of the county’s 15 local issues passed, led by the renewal of Holmes County’s 0.25 percent sales and use tax for five years for bridge work, which passed 5,987 to 2,708 in the unofficial results. A Loudonville Public Library renewal also passed, 210 to 147, according to The Daily Record’s report of the unofficial returns.
Township voters were similarly selective. The Daily Record reported renewals passing for fire and ambulance service in Killbuck and Prairie townships, for road work in Monroe, Paint, Saltcreek and Washington townships, and for fire protection and cemetery maintenance in Richland Township, while a new Killbuck Township road levy outside the village failed 175 to 197. Two local liquor options for Buckeye Deli & Pizza, including Sunday sales, passed by wide margins.
None of these results becomes official until the board completes its canvass. The board held its provisional-ballot disposition meeting on November 12, according to its published schedule, and the November 16 official canvass is where the unofficial totals — including any accepted provisional and late-arriving ballots the board is permitted to count — are certified as the county’s official results.
What happens next is that certification on November 16, followed by the board’s post-election audit on December 7, according to its published meeting schedule. Until the canvass is complete, every Holmes County figure in this story remains the board’s unofficial count, and NewsForce247 will update this coverage if the official totals change any outcome.
Photo: Christopher L. Riley, CC BY-SA 4.0