2016 General Election finally ending

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Election Day, the day Ohioans have been looking forward to … being over. For many Ohioans who thought the day might never come, it has.

Van Wert County residents voting today have a number of choices to make, including the presidential race, U.S. Senate and U.S. House seats, Ohio Supreme Court, and State School Board.

For president, voters have a choice between Republican Donald J. Trump, Democrat Hillary Clinton, Libertarian Gary Johnson, Green Party candidate Jill Stein, and independent Richard Duncan.

For the U.S. Senate, candidates include incumbent Rob Portman, a Republican; Democrat and former governor Ted Strickland; Green Party candidate Joseph DeMare, independents Tom Connor and Scott Rupert, and write-in candidate Jim Stahl.

In the Fifth U.S. Congressional District, incumbent Bob Latta, a Republican, is seeking his sixth term in office, while challenged by Democrat James Neu Jr.

Two Ohio Supreme Court seats are also up for election today.

Republican Pat Fischer and Democrat John O’Connell seek the vacant seat of retiring Justice Judith Ann Lanzinger, while Democrat Cynthia Rice and Republican Pat DeWine seek the seat of retiring Justice Paul Pfeifer.

Two people are also seeking the seat of retiring Third Ohio Court of Appeals Court Judge Richard Rogers, who is retiring. Democrat Randall Basinger and Republican William Zimmerman are vying for the seat.

Candidates for the State School Board include Linda Haycock, Martha A. Manchester, Lilli Vitale, and Tanyce J. Addison.

County voters will also be voting on a number of renewal tax issues, including levies for the Van Wert County Council on Aging and Crestview Local Schools and Spencerville Local Schools (check the independent archives for an issues story).

On Monday, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced that an estimated 1,798,277 absentee ballots were cast statewide ahead of Election Day, a large number but under the 1.87 million ballots cast in the 2012 presidential election.

This year’s total includes 13,893 ballots cast by military and overseas voters. Voting for military and overseas personnel began on September 24 and all absentee voting began on October 12, the day after the close of registration.

Here in Van Wert County, 5,651 absentee ballots were requested and 5,635 of those were cast.

2016 Presidential Election By-the-Numbers  

• 7,861,343 Ohioans are registered to vote.
• 1,994,911 voters requested an absentee ballot.
• Of those, 1,798,277 have been cast.
• 661,549 voters requested and cast an absentee ballot in-person.
• 22,886 military and overseas voters requested an absentee ballot.
• Of those, 13,893 have been cast.

If mailed, absentee ballots must be postmarked by November 7 and arrive at the board of elections within 10 days of Election Day in order to be counted. Ohio is only one of 12 states to allow late-arriving ballots to be counted.

For those who have not mailed ballots prior to election week, the Secretary of State’s Office recommends voters take their completed ballot to the post office and request it receive a postage cancellation marking, or return it personally to their county board of elections prior to the close of the polls at 7:30 p.m. on Election Day.

Just one day ahead of the 2012 Presidential Election, nearly 2 million absentee ballots had been requested with nearly 1.8 million ballots having been already cast. That year marked the first-ever statewide mailing of absentee ballot applications and voters who took advantage of this option represented a third of all ballots cast in that election — a record 1.87 million absentee ballots were cast by mail and in person.