Knox County voters turned out at 58.18% in the November 3 general election, casting 24,455 ballots out of 42,034 registered voters, according to the unofficial summary results released by the Knox County Board of Elections. All 53 precincts have reported, and the county’s official canvass and certification are still ahead, with Ohio boards required to certify by November 24 under the Secretary of State’s schedule.
At home, Knox County backed Republicans by wide margins in the statewide races. Vivek Ramaswamy and Robert A. McColley took 62.50% of the county’s vote for governor and lieutenant governor, with 15,071 votes to 8,044 (33.36%) for Amy Acton and David Pepper. In the U.S. Senate race, Jon Husted carried the county with 15,218 votes (62.91%) to Sherrod Brown’s 7,632 (31.55%), with Libertarian William Redpath at 840 and independent Greg Levy at 482, the board’s summary shows.
The rest of the statewide slate ran the same way in Knox County: Keith Faber took 68.60% for attorney general, Frank LaRose 69.14% for auditor, Robert Sprague 65.43% for secretary of state and Jay Edwards 68.47% for treasurer. Knox voters also favored Daniel R. Hawkins (68.45%) and Colleen O’Donnell (67.38%) for the two Ohio Supreme Court seats, Troy Balderson (68.11%) for Congress in the 12th District, and Issue 3, the statewide photo ID constitutional amendment, which passed in the county with 76.39% voting yes.
In the county’s own courthouse races, Republican Bill Pursel won the commissioner seat with 16,332 votes (68.44%) to Democrat Chuck Rogers’ 7,532 (31.56%), and Auditor Sarah Thorne was unopposed with 18,551 votes. Ryan Rivers took the 19th District state Senate vote in the county at 68.34%, while Shawn Stevens (73.83% in the Knox County portion of the 61st House District) and Mark Hiner (65.36% in the 98th) led their state House races on the county’s ballots.
The closest thing to a surprise on the local ballot was in Mount Vernon, where voters rejected the Mount Vernon City School District’s proposed additional 1% earned income tax. The tax failed with 55.14% voting against (6,388 votes) and 44.86% in favor (5,198), according to the board’s unofficial summary — a result the Kenyon Collegian also reported from the board’s figures. Voters did renew the countywide tax levy, approving it 61.10% to 38.90%.
Of the 24,455 ballots cast, 13,317 were cast on Election Day, 8,179 arrived by mail and 2,959 were cast early in person at the board office, the summary shows. The unofficial totals do not yet include any provisional ballots, which the board reviews during the official canvass period before certification.
What happens next is the canvass itself: the board will complete its official count, resolve provisional and late-arriving eligible absentee ballots under state rules, and certify the county’s results by the November 24 deadline. Certified results are then transmitted to the Secretary of State, closing the books on Knox County’s 2026 general election.
Photo: Mark Spearman, CC BY 2.0