Listen. Engage. Vote 2022: Results and reactions from Ohio's Nov. 8 midterm election

Government & Politics

Here are results from several key Northeast Ohio and statewide races in the 2022 midterm election

Voters across Ohio cast their ballots in this year's midterm election. Here's a rundown of results from several major races.

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As voter concerns about inflation continue to grow, several attempts to get new funding for school districts in Northeast Ohio fell flat, including in Parma and Nordonia. However, elsewhere, voters were more charitable, with plenty of school levy renewals passing and some other new-dollar requests getting approved.

The Parma City School District bond issue looked to be on its way to defeat for the third time in the last two-plus years by a margin of about 2,000 votes, with 7% of the votes not yet counted at around 1 a.m., according to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.

Education

Amid inflation, voters quash Parma, Nordonia school levies, approve those in North Olmsted, Rocky River

Conor Morris

Listen • 0:44

Also in Cuyahoga County, voters likely narrowly approved a combined levy and bond issue for the North Olmsted City Schools that officials say will prove critically important for the district. It was passing by 400 votes with 13% of votes remained outstanding Wednesday around 1 a.m.
Meanwhile, in Summit County, voters voted downed a large bond issue in the Nordonia Hils City School District meant to fund construction of a new portfolio of school buildings to replace the district’s aged facilities.

Elsewhere in Summit County, attempts to pass levies were more successful, including in Copley-Fairlawn City School District passing a bond issue to fund facility improvement, as well as a new operating levy at Stow-Munroe Falls City School District, and two levy renewal attempts at Coventry and Twinsburg schools (although Coventry was by a narrow, 100-vote margin). A new Springfield Local School District levy proposal was rejected.

Republican Max Miller and Democrat Emilia Sykes are headed to Capitol Hill, the only two new representatives joining Ohio’s delegation to the lower house.. so far. The race for the 1^st congressional district in southwest Ohio is still too close to call.

By 9:30 p.m., the Associated Press (AP)had called Miller’s victory over Democrat Matthew Diemer. The road to Washington was cleared in part for Miller back in April when incumbent Rep. Bob Gibbs chose to retire rather than to face Miller in a Republican primary for the redrawn 7^th district. The White House staffer also had the endorsement of former President Donald Trump.

Eman Abu-Khaled

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Ideastream Public Media

In the 13^th congressional district, Democrat Emilia Sykes declared victory around 11 p.m. even though AP has not yet called the race against Republican Madison Gesiotto Gilbert. Shortly before midnight, Sykes leads 52.5% to 47.5% in the district that spans from Twinsburg to Canton.

In southwest Ohio, incumbent Republican Steve Chabot is trailing Democrat Greg Landsman 52.4% to 47.6% with 94% of votes counted in the race for Ohio's first district.

With all precincts reporting, unofficial results from the Summit County Board of Elections show Akron voters approved a citizen police oversight board by 62% to 38%.

Activists collected thousands of signatures on a petition to put a nine-member review board before voters on the November ballot following the fatal shooting of 25-year-old Jayland Walker, a Black man, by Akron police officers in June.

The charter amendment will supersede a previous plan for a civilian oversight board that was proposed by Mayor Dan Horrigan and approved by city council in September.

Community

Akron civilian police oversight board, Issue 10, has passed. What happens next?

Anna Huntsman

Issue 10 will create a nine-member review board made up of citizens that would monitor complaints against Akron Police.

Listen • 0:55

Ryan Loew

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Ideastream Public Media

Ohio voters appear poised to approve two ballot measures by wide margins Tuesday.

At 11:30 p.m., 78% of voters had voted to support Issue 1, which would take power out of the hands of the Supreme Court to set rules for how bail can be used. Only 22% voted against the measure. Nearly 85% of the vote had been counted.

Issue 2, the ballot measure which would require citizenship to vote, was also poised to pass by a similar margin. With nearly 80% of the vote counted, 77.2% or 2,957,970 voters supported Issue 2. Only 23% of voters opposed the measure. Under the amendment, local governments would be prohibited from allowing noncitizens to cast ballots in local elections

Government & Politics

Issue 1 puts battle over bail in front of Ohio voters this year

Matthew Richmond

The constitutional amendment would take power out of the hands of the Supreme Court to set rules for how bail can be used.

Republican J.D. Vance will fill the U.S. Senate seat left open by Rob Portman, who did not seek re-election.

Vance defeated Democrat Tim Ryan, according to the Associated Press, in a race that could help determine the balance of power in Congress.

Democrat Chris Ronayne will be the next Cuyahoga County Executive. The Republican candidate Lee Weingart has conceded the election.

Shortly before midnight, with 94% of the vote counted, Ronayne had won 63.60% of the vote to Weingart's 36.32%, according to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.

Just before 10 p.m., Weingart addressed the crowd at his election party at the Shaker Heights Country Club. Weingart said he hopes Ronayne will answer the "hopes, fears and aspirations" of people he spoke to on his campaign.

"A vision to reduce the burden of the government on taxpayers and the citizens; a vision to sell off assets that we shouldn't own as the public, like a hotel and the Medical Mart; a vision to invest in the urban core, where we need investment, we need funding to help people who are just trying to get by who are having a hard time," he said.

Shortly after 9 p.m., the Associated Press called the race for Ohio's Governor for incumbent Republican Mike DeWine.

With about 41% of precincts counted, DeWine had 1,151,009 votes — about 59.5% of the total.

Anne Glausser

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Ideastream Public Media

At 6 p.m., voter turnout in Cuyahoga County has just topped 42%. According to the Board of Elections, more than 372,000 ballots have been cast so far, about 59% of which were cast today.

Turnout in Cleveland is at 27% with nearly 34,000 votes cast on the East Side and more than 33,000 on the West Side.

In East Cleveland where voters will decide whether to remove Mayor Brandon King from office, turnout is at 23% with more than 2,400 votes cast.

In both Bay Village, where turnout is at 62%, and Rocky River, 60%, voters are deciding on an additional school levy.

Polls close at 7:30 p.m.

Ryan Loew

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Ideastream Public Media

The Justice Department is sending election monitors to the polls in 24 states on Election Day as part of its effort to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws. The locations vary from Palm Beach County, Fla., to Maricopa County, Ariz., and Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

Monitors will be present at 64 jurisdictions in all, the DOJ said. The workers are drawn from the agency’s civil rights division and U.S. Attorneys’ offices, along with, in some cases, staff from the Office of Personnel Management.

The federal personnel will be in contact with state and local election officials, the Justice Department said. But officials in Missouri say they won’t let the DOJ employees into polling places in Cole County, which is on the DOJ’s list because of complaints alleging ballot access problems in possible violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft says he fully supports Cole County Clerk Steve Korsmeyer, whom Ashcroft says “rightfully declined to allow this overreach” by the DOJ.

Missouri has only one county on the federal monitoring list; the state with the most locations is Massachusetts, with eight. In response to an NPR query Tuesday, Debra O’Malley, director of communications in the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office, said the DOJ typically sends observers to places with language requirements.

Of the Massachusetts locations, O’Malley said, “All of the jurisdictions DOJ is visiting today are places with relatively new language requirements, where DOJ has not previously observed voting since those language requirements were put in place.”

Election security has been a hot topic in recent years. But the DOJ says its civil rights division has regularly monitored U.S. elections since the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was approved.

The DOJ’s civil rights arm also has a national call center (800-253-3931) to take complaints about possible rights violations, as well as a website.

Precincts across Ohio are reporting steady turnout today with very few problems to report.

Gabriel Kramer

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Ideastream Public Media

On Cleveland’s West Side, Dalton Perry turned out today to cast his vote for local judgeships.

"Judges play a very large role in terms of how things are done locally, and in having a genuine impact in Cuyahoga County members lives..." Perry said.

Cuyahoga County voters will decide nearly two dozen countywide judicial races today.

For Sarah Szollar in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood, this summer's U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade galvanized her need to vote.

Gabriel Kramer

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Ideastream Public Media

"Abortion is really important to me to keep that legal, especially in the state of Ohio as a woman of reproductive age," Szollar said.

For more information about the judges on the ballot in Cuyahoga County, Judge4Yourself provides ratings of the judicial candidates. Judge4Yourself is a coalition of bar associations including Norman S. Minor Bar Association focused toward African American lawyers and the Ohio Women’s Bar Association.

Each county has one ballot drop box located at the county board of elections office where ballots can be returned in person up until polls close at 7:30 p.m. today.

Ryan Loew

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Ideastream Public Media

Voters must return their absentee ballots to the board of elections in the county in which they are registered. Poll workers at precinct-level voting locations cannot accept absentee ballots.

Relatives may drop off your ballot for you, including your spouse or your father, mother, father-in-law, mother-in-law, grandfather, grandmother, brother, or sister of the whole or half blood, or the son, daughter, adopting parent, adopted child, stepparent, stepchild, uncle, aunt, nephew, or niece.

It's too late the return your ballot by mail. That deadline was yesterday.

You can track the status of your absentee ballot. If you believe your ballot may have been lost in the mail, contact your county board of elections.

Tim Harrison

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Ideastream Public Media

In states where voting by mail is on the rise, there's a wonky reason why officials may be slower to report midterm results on election night.

Before mail-in ballots can be counted, they have to go through a process sometimes referred to as "pre-canvassing."

It can include checking voters' signatures on the return envelopes, opening the envelopes, taking out the ballots, flattening and then grouping them into stacks ready for scanning.

These seemingly mundane but critical steps can take hours or days to finish depending on how many people vote by mail. The Bipartisan Policy Center has recommended allotting at least seven days before Election Day for this process.

CONTINUE READING

All polling places must have at least one accessible voting machine available for people with disabilities, such as visually impaired voters, according to federal law.

Voters who would rather not use the machine can also bring a friend or family member with them to read the ballot or request assistance from a bipartisan team of poll workers.

Ryan Loew

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Ideastream Public Media

Ohio law requires some form of acceptable identification, which include:

• An unexpired Ohio driver’s license or state ID card with present or former address, as long as your present residential address is in the official list of registered voters for that precinct

OR

• A military ID

OR

• A photo ID issued by the United States government or the state of Ohio, that contains your name and current address, and that is not expired

OR

• An original or copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or other document with your name and present address ("current" means in the last 12 months).

Check the entire list of acceptable IDs here.

As of the close of early voting on Monday, more than 1.5 million Ohioans had requested an absentee ballot or cast an early in-person ballot for the midterm election, a 3.9% increase compared to four years ago, according to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office.

From Ohio Statehouse News Bureau Chief Karen Kasler:

Track your ballot using this link from the Ohio Secretary of State.

Robert Sprague, the Republican incumbent, and Scott Schertzer, the Democratic candidate, say they have different plans for the office of Ohio Treasurer on issues ranging from state pension board appointees to abortion.

The treasurer’s office collects and holds taxes and fees and manages state investments.

Sprague, a former state representative who was auditor and treasurer in Findlay. Schertzer is the mayor of Marion.

Sprague talked up his office’s work on the AG-LINK program, in which the state partners with local banks to lower interest rates for farmers, and OhioCheckbook.com, which is intended to show how state and local governments spend tax dollars.

Schertzer said one of his priorities would be to look at the treasurer's designated appointments to the state’s five pension boards – especially the State Teachers Retirement System.

READ MORE ABOUT PENSIONS, POLITICAL CORRUPTION AND ABORTION FROM THE CANDIDATES FOR OHIO TREASURER.

Republican incumbent Keith Faber and Democratic candidate Taylor Sappington say they both have plans to bring about accountability and transparency as Ohio’s auditor, but they disagree on the scope of the office’s authority.

Statehouse News Bureau

The auditor is the state’s chief compliance officer and audits around 5,900 local, county and state public offices in Ohio. The auditor also sits on the Ohio Redistricting Commission, the body responsible for drawing the state's house and senate districts. It will resume after the election.

Faber, the current auditor, helped create the new redistricting process passed in two ballot issues. And he voted against Republican-approved legislative maps three times because of concerns about compactness and political subdivision splits.

Faber is a former state representative, state senator and Senate president.

Sappington is the auditor in the Athens County community of Nelsonville and is the first LGBTQ major party candidate for statewide office in Ohio.

Sappington on drawing districts: “I'm going to deliver maps that make sense for our neighborhoods that are fair and honest and competitive — not partisan.”

READ MORE ABOUT THE OHIO AUDITOR CANDIDATES' VIEWS ON FRAUD, POLITICAL CORRUPTION AND REDISTRICTING.

The integrity of Ohio’s elections and the future of the state’s redistricting process have been key issues in the race for secretary of state between Republican incumbent Frank LaRose and Democratic candidate Chelsea Clark.

Statehouse News Bureau

The secretary of state oversees the elections run by Ohio’s 88 county bipartisan boards of elections.

LaRose is a former state senator and Clark is a council member in Forest Park near Cincinnati.

LaRose created what he’s calling the public integrity division to consolidate investigative functions and bring in additional capacity, even though he has said repeatedly that voter fraud, quite often a Republican talking point, is rare. Clark is skeptical of the division and the timing of its launch two days before early voting began in the general election.

On redistricting, LaRose sat on the Ohio Redistricting Commission and voted for each of the maps that the Ohio Supreme Court later ruled unconstitutional. LaRose said he’s hoping both parties will try to find middle ground solutions that he said he was working toward.

Clark worries the map drawing process will become more partisan when it starts up again after the election.

“Political partisanship is taking place of good governance,” Clark said. “It's taking place of doing the will of Ohio voters. And it's going to take someone that's not going to cave to extremists in order to do that.”

READ MORE ABOUT THE SECRETARY OF STATE CANDIDATES' VIEWS ON VOTER FRAUD AND REDISTRICTING.

Statehouse News Bureau

Republican incumbent Dave Yost and Democratic candidate Jeff Crossman say the way the state defends Ohio's abortion laws and fights corruption are among the issues that hang in the balance in the race for Ohio Attorney General.

The attorney general defends state laws, oversees 900 law enforcement units in Ohio — along with the state’s crime lab and the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy — and offers legal advice to state agencies. The AG's office is also called in for special prosecutions and sues on behalf of consumers, with the help of 1,500 employees in 30 divisions.

Yost was Ohio Auditor before he was elected Attorney General. Crossman is a Democratic state representative from Parma.

READ MORE ABOUT WHERE THE ATTORNEY GENERAL CANDIDATES STAND ON ABORTION AND POLITICAL CORRUPTION

Ronayne and Weingart campaigns

Democrat Chris Ronayne spent the last 16 years as the CEO of University Circle Inc.

• Ronayne’s focus is on making local communities livable and walkable with access to fresh water and food
• Wants an ombudsman to help people navigate county government
• Wants to create Dept. of Mobility & Infrastructure to make public transportation more accessible and equitable for residents without cars
• Opposes current plan for a new county jail including its size and proposed location
• Proposes more transit officer training to address racial inequities
• Supports restoring funding to CMSD’s Say Yes family support specialist program
• Supports seeking increased arts funding from state

Republican Lee Weingart was the last Republican to hold a seat as a Cuyahoga County Commissioner before a new form of government was adopted in 2009.

• Weingart’s "10,000 Homes for Cuyahoga County" initiative would provide loans to 5,000 new homebuyers and 5,000 current owners who need to fix up their properties.
• Wants to replace Regional Income Tax Agency with across-the-board 2-2.5% county income tax
• Opposes current plan for a new county jail including its size and proposed location
• Opposes countywide ballot measure to increase GCRTA funding through tax increase
• Opposes armed officers on GCRTA vehicles and criminalizing nonpayment of transit fares
• Supports restoring funding to CMSD’s Say Yes family support specialist program
• Supports expanding county cigarette tax to include other forms of tobacco for arts funding

READ MORE ABOUT CHRIS RONAYNE, LEE WEINGART, OR WHERE THE CANDIDATES STAND ON PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, THE FUTURE OF THE CUYAHOGA COUNTY JAIL, EDUCATION AND FUNDING FOR THE ARTS.

Whaley and DeWine campaigns

Incumbent Gov. Mike DeWine is seeking a second term while former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley is hoping to unseat him.

Ohio could make history by electing a woman governor for the first time if Whaley and her running mate, Cheryl Stephens, were to win.

DeWine, and his running mate Jon Husted, have a double-digit lead in nearly all of the public polls. After 40 years in politics, DeWine has high statewide name recognition, which Whaley lacks.

Here's where the two stand on the issues.

Economy:

• DeWine: Cut taxes to make Ohio more attractive for businesses
• Whaley: Invest in workforce readiness training and raise minimum wage to $15 / hour

Abortion:

• DeWine: Signed Ohio’s “heartbeat bill” into law, making abortion illegal once a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually about at about six weeks
• Whaley: Pro-choice

Guns:

• DeWine: Signed Ohio’s “Stand Your Ground” bill; signed bill allowing concealed carry without a permit; signed bill reducing required training from 700 to 24 hours for teachers to be armed in classrooms
• Whaley: Supports universal background check; supports red flag laws

READ MORE ABOUT THE RACE FOR GOVERNOR

AP Photo

The race between Republican J.D. Vance and Democrat Tim Ryan to become Ohio’s next U.S. Senator has been a long journey, raking in millions of dollars and leading to heated debates among the candidates.

While 2022 has been marked by several topics that stir controversy among voters, such as abortion and immigration, the one issue that consistently polls higher than anything else is the economy.

Here is what the candidates had to say about some of this cycle's biggest issues.

Inflation:

• Vance blames influx of federal aid including the American Rescue Plan Act and overregulation of the oil and gas industry.
• Ryan blames the pandemic and supports a significant tax cut for working people and small businesses.

Abortion:

• Vance supports Sen. Lindsay Graham’s 15-week abortion ban proposal.
• Ryan opposed abortion until about seven years ago and now says he’d codify abortion rights.

Immigration:

• Ryan: “If they're here, pay a fine, pay back taxes, pass a background check and come into the country.”
• Vance: supports a system that allows immigrants to the U.S. if they provide something “meaningful” to the country, which he described as having certain skills, along with knowing English.

READ MORE ABOUT THE U.S. SENATE CANDIDATES' VIEWS ON THE ECONOMY, ABORTION, SOCIAL SECURITY, AND IMMIGRATION.

Ryan Loew

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Ideastream Public Media

Laketran and Akron METRO RTA are providing free bus rides to the polls today.

“We offer those free rides to anyone in our service area on our fixed route as well as on our demand response, our schedule ahead service,” said Akron METRO RTA’s Molly Becker. “We feel that it is an ideal solution to getting people to the polls to have their votes and, obviously, in turn have their voice matter.”

Voters will not need to provide voter registration or proof of residency to ride for free, Becker said, and they can use the bus service all day with unlimited rides on fixed routes.

In Lake County, Laketran’s Julia Schick says, “Local route 1-9 customers simply need to inform their bus driver when they board that they are going to vote or just voted, and the trip will be free.”

For voters in the greater Cleveland area, GCRTA will not be providing free rides as it did in November 2020, when the transit agency received a grant to cover the cost.

Issue 2 would include language in the state constitution that reinforces the qualifications to vote, with an emphasis on making sure that non-U.S. citizens cannot participate in elections.

Ryan Loew

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Ideastream Public Media

The issue came up when the village of Yellow Springs tried to allow non-citizens to vote in local elections. The state constitution already lays out that voters are U.S. citizens, 18 and older, who follow certain residency requirements.

For Issue 2:

• Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose: “American elections are only for American citizens, and the cities in other states that have granted non-citizens the right to vote in local elections are undermining the value of what it means to be an American. … This is a smart preventative measure that will provide the certainty needed to ensure this right is protected for Ohioans."

Against Issue 2:

• Rep. Mike Skindell (D-Lakewood): “The argument here is based on the ability for a local community that wants to welcome non-citizens to their communities and have them to be contributing members of their communities to vote on local issues.”

Issue 1 requires judges to consider several factors when setting bail, including the perceived threat to the public posed by a defendant. The current system favors other measures to ensure public safety, like home confinement, GPS monitoring and orders to have no contact with alleged victims and limits the use cash bail.

Matthew Richmond

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Ideastream Public Media

Issue 1 would also remove the Ohio Supreme Court’s authority to set the rules on bail.

For Issue 1:

• Sharon Kennedy – Republican candidate for Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice
• Mike DeWine – Republican candidate for Governor
• Nan Whaley – Democratic candidate for Governor

Against Issue 1:

• ACLU of Ohio
• Policy Matters Ohio

READ MORE ABOUT STATE ISSUE 1

Ryan Loew

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Ideastream Public Media

Select your county board of elections below:

• Ashland
• Ashtabula
• Carroll
• Columbiana
• Coshocton
• Cuyahoga
• Erie
• Geauga
• Harrison
• Holmes
• Huron
• Knox
• Lake
• Lorain
• Mahoning
• Medina
• Portage
• Richland
• Stark
• Summit
• Trumbull
• Tuscarawas
• Wayne

Don't see your county listed? Find it here.