Get ready, get set, now vote! Our endorsements in review

It’s SAD to say, BUT Tuesday PROMISES to be yet another less-than-robust Election Day throughout the Mahoning Valley and Ohio. Officials at boards of election in our region once again are predicting depressingly low voter turnouts.

Estimates hover around 40 percent in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties. And generally speaking, projections from county boards of election fall short of actual turnouts. We hope, however, that the Valley electorate surprises us with much higher percentages Tuesday.

After all, much is at stake at the polls for state executive offices, state and local courts and for many communities and school systems in the Valley.

All Mahoning County residents, for example, will have their say on whether the county should enact a five-year 0.75-percent sales tax for criminal-justice operations, a pocketbook issue that affects virtually every purchase large and small in the county.

In Youngstown, residents can sound off for the fourth time on a proposed ban on hydraulic fracturing in the city in the one place where it really counts — the ballot box. They will also decide whether to downsize the number of city wards from seven to five.

In Trumbull County, voters will be electing two posts to the all important three-member Board of County Commissioners, which sets policies affecting virtually every county resident.

Nearly 20 school districts in the Valley are seeking renewal of tax levies or new funding to stabilize their budgets or to undertake construction or other projects.

Thus, we urge residents of the Mahoning Valley to responsibly cast ballots in Tuesday’s general election. As usual, polls will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Early voting at boards of election will end at 2 p.m. today.

VINDICATOR RECOMMENDATIONS

The Vindicator’s commitment to elections is long-standing. We spend hours in endorsement meetings with candidates for office and with representatives of major ballot issues. Based on what we learn, in those interviews and elsewhere, we issue endorsements.

What follows is a summary of our recommendations for races and issues that we explained in greater detail in editorials in this space over the last four weeks:

Governor: Republican John Kasich

Attorney general: Republican Mike DeWine

Auditor: Republican Dave Yost

Secretary of state: Republican Jon Husted

Treasurer: Democrat Connie Pillich

Supreme Court Justice 1/1/15 term: Sharon Kennedy

Supreme Court Justice 1/2/15 term: Judi French

6th District Congress: Republican Bill Johnson of Marietta

13th District Congress: Democrat Tim Ryan of Howland

14th District Congress: Republican David Joyce of Russell Township

7th District Appellate Court: Carol Ann Robb

11th District Court of Appeals: Timothy Cannon and Cynthia Westcott Rice

Mahoning County auditor: Republican Ralph T. Meacham

Mahoning County probate court judge: Robert Rusu

Trumbull County commissioner: Democrats Frank Fuda and Mauro Cantalamessa

59th District House: Democrat Ron Gerberry

63rd District House: Democrat Sean O’Brien of Bazetta

64th District House: Democrat Michael O’Brien of Warren

Mahoning County 0.75 percent five-year sales-tax, Issue 1: Yes

Mahoning County, children services replacement levy, Issue 2: Yes

Mahoning County public library levy renewal and increase, Issue 3: Yes.

Youngstown, Community Bill of Rights, Issue 4: No.

Youngstown, Issue 5: Combining of community development and economic development departments, Yes.

Youngstown, Issue 6: Making code-enforcement superintendent unclassified position, Yes.

Youngstown, Issue 7: Reducing city wards from seven to five, Yes.

Renewal school levies in Mahoning County: Boardman 3.9 mills for three years; Campbell, 14.4 mills for 10 years; Jackson-Milton, 1.8 mill for five years; Springfield, 1 percent income tax for five years.

Trumbull County, Issue 1: A 1-mill renewal levy for operation of the alcohol and drug- addiction programs operated by the Trumbull County Mental Health Board.

Trumbull County Children Services levy: 0.8-mill, 10-year renewal levy for operation expenses.

Renewal school levies in Trumbull County: Trumbull Career and Technical Center, 2.4 mills for 10 years; Howland schools, 4.1 mills for 10 years; Mathews, 7.8 mills for five years; Southington, 3.9 mills for three years.