Voter turnout topped 60 percent countywide in Lorain County for general election

More than 60 percent of eligible Lorain County voters turned out to vote in the November general election, and even more in a number of northeast Lorain County precincts — places like Avon, Avon Lake and North Ridgeville, according to data reviewed by The Chronicle-Telegram. Lorain County has 217,346 registered voters. Jim Kramer, deputy director of the Lorain County Board of Elections, said 60.5 percent of them cast ballots. "We had a pretty good turnout overall," he said. Kramer said 2,462 total provisional ballots were cast. Elections officials are still reviewing them to see if they meet the qualifications to count. "We have to verify them first to see if they're registered in the county or even in the state of Ohio," he said. A total of 314 overseas/military voting ballots were requested, with about 80 still to be returned to the Board of Elections as of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Kramer said. Those voters have until 5 p.m. Saturday to get their ballots back to the elections board, which is also the deadline for the "cure" period for those who didn't present valid ID for voting during early, in-person voting or at the polls on Tuesday to do so at the board offices, 1985 N. Ridge Road in Sheffield Township. One matter that could still be decided by provisional ballots is Issue 2, the Clearview School District's 3.91-mill levy for school operations that would have generated $546,856 annually. The levy is failing by 13 votes, with 795 votes for it and 808 against it, according to unofficial results from the Board of Elections. An automatic recount is triggered when the difference in votes is less than half of 1 percent of all votes cast in the race. The elections board plans to meet at 3 p.m. Nov. 17 at its offices at 1985 N. Ridge Road in Sheffield Township to certify the results of Tuesday's election. Many individual precincts saw 70 percent turnout, and some saw more than 80 percent turnout. North Ridgeville's Ward 3, Precinct C had 898 registered voters. Of those, 790 cast ballots in Tuesday's election. That's an 87.97 percent turnout and the highest out of all 210 precincts in Lorain County. North Ridgeville 3-G had 80.7 percent turnout (703 out of 871 registered voters). North Ridgeville 3-D had 800 out of 1,014 registered voters cast ballots, for 78.9 percent turnout. Avon Lake also saw high turnout, with both a charter amendment (passed) and an income tax increase (failed) before voters. In Avon Lake 1-D, 79.07 percent (835 out of 1,056 registered voters) turned out. Avon Lake 2-D had 77.19 percent turnout (917 out of 1,188 registered voters). Addressing reports that some people who had been purged from voter rolls were surprised when they showed up Tuesday to vote, Kramer said it's possible some people who hadn't voted in years came out and were shocked they were no longer registered. He said he hadn't had any specific reports of that happening Tuesday, but would review voting logs and provisional ballots as the election's board's post-election meeting approaches on Nov. 12. "If there was a pattern that developed I would probably notice it close to then," Kramer said. Kramer said no serious issues were reported. Some campaigners started arguing with voters at a polling place in North Ridgeville, a dispute quickly broken up by city police, he said. "There were a few reports of campaigners being a little bit aggressive," Kramer said. "Tensions were definitely high and the emotions high for this election. All in all we did really well on that end." Lorain County turnout in the 2022 general election, the last midterm election cycle in the U.S., was just under 52 percent according to historic Board of Elections data. It was 72.2 percent in the 2024 general election, a presidential election year. Contact Dave O'Brien at 440-329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.