Turnout still lower than '08 and 9 other things you should know about Tuesday's primary


March 17, 2016 at 12:04a.m.

By Marc Kovac

news@vindy.com

COLUMBUS

Turnout was up, Donald Trump won a bunch of counties while losing the overall state, and the chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court received more statewide votes than anyone else.

These are among the results from unofficial election counts posted by the secretary of state’s office.

Here are 10 things you should know about Tuesday’s primary.

  1. Turnout: A total of about 43 percent of eligible voters (3.2 million of 7.6 million) cast ballots, according to the unofficial results.

Nearly 42,000 absentee ballots remain outstanding, meaning they’re still in the mail or haven’t been counted or cast.

And close to 69,000 voters cast provisional ballots, meaning their eligibility is in question because of address or other issues.

  1. Not a record: The overall turnout was close but still lower than the record set in 2008, when 46 percent of eligible voters cast ballots, according to Josh Eck, a spokesman for Secretary of State Jon Husted.

  2. Counties: The highest turnout statewide was in Putnam County, where nearly 54 percent of registered voters cast ballots, according to the unofficial results.

Jackson County was at the other end of the list, with a 31 percent turnout, followed by Highland and Lucas counties with 38 percent

  1. The Breakdown: Trump won more than 30 Ohio counties, including most of southeast Ohio. Kasich won the rest, including Ohio’s big city counties (Cuyahoga, Franklin/Delaware, Hamilton, Lucas, Stark and Summit).

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won 75 of Ohio’s 88 counties over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in Ohio’s Democratic primary.

  1. The Others: Ten Republican presidential candidates had their names on the ballot, though only four were still in the race Tuesday (and three now, after Rubio dropped out after losing Florida to Trump).

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was third, with 13.3 percent of the vote, followed by Rubio, with 2.32 percent.

Retired neurosurgeon (and current Trump supporter) Ben Carson received 13,998 votes.

Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Carly Fiornia, Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum also snagged support of less than a percentage point of the total ballots cast.

  1. Most Votes: The top vote recipient among statewide candidates was Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, with about 1.33 million.

Ohio Supreme Court Justice candidate Pat DeWine and Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman were close, with about 1.31 million.

Portman was the only one of the three in a contested primary.

  1. No Choice: If you subtract the total ballots cast for Republican and Democratic presidential delegates from the total votes submitted, you’ll find that more than 93,000 eligible Ohioans did not pick someone as their choice for the top of the ticket.

The number is even bigger in Ohio’s U.S. Senate race – more than 538,000 voters opted not to pick a candidate in that race.

  1. State Legislature: There will be lots of new faces in the Ohio House next session, mostly due to term limits.

More than 20 seats are to be filled by newcomers.

  1. Libraries: Voters OK’d 13 of 15 public library issues around the state, according to the Ohio Library Council.

The total included eight renewals, four renewals plus additions and one replacement levy.

  1. No Rest: Candidates were back on the campaign trail and the attack Wednesday.