Cuyahoga County Board of Elections releases Primary Election results

(Plain Press, June 2020)   Cuyahoga County Board of Elections released results for the March 17 Extended Primary Election in May. Due to the corona virus COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Mike DeWine cancelled in person voting at neighborhood voting booths on election day. Voters were given additional time until April 28^th to cast their ballots by mail, or in person at the Board of Elections for a limited number of voters.

Overall 196,785 ballots were cast out of 858,057 registered voters in Cuyahoga County. Of those ballots, the Board of Elections counted 10,849 Early In-Person ballots; 181,232 Vote-by-Mail ballots; 2,760 Provisional Ballots; and 1,944 Post Election Vote by Mail Ballots.

The Board of Elections said 22.93% of registered voters voted in the Primary Election. This compares to 23.75% voter turnout in the May 2018 midterm primary election and 42.52% voter turnout in the last presidential primary in March of 2016.

In this year’s primary 98.6% of voters either voted by mail or took advantage of early in-person voting. In the 2018 primary that percentage was 34.78% and in the 2016 primary that percentage was 24.62%.

Of the ballots cast in Cuyahoga County 143,621 or 72.98% were Democratic; 40,412 or 20.54% were Republican; 211 or .11% were Libertarian; 12,541 or 6.37% were Nonpartisan, and 3,662 or 1.86% were blank.

In the Democratic Presidential Primary, although most of the candidates had officially withdrawn by the time many voters cast their ballots, their names still remained on the ballot. Of the 143,621 Democratic Ballots cast, Joseph Biden received 98,097 votes or 69.75% of the vote; Bernie Sanders received 22,564 votes or 16.04%; Michael Bloomberg received 6,873 votes or 4.89%; Elizabeth Warren received 5,826 votes or 4.14%; Pete Buttigieg received 2,569 votes or 1.83% and Amy Klobuchar received 1,814 votes or 1.29%. Rounding out the rest of the field were Tulsi Gabbard, Michael Bennet, Tom Steyer, Deval Patrick and various write in votes – all with less than 1% of the votes cast.

In the 9^th District Democratic Primary race for the United States House of Representatives Marcy Kaptur received 21,387 votes or 87.75% of the vote in Cuyahoga County compared to Peter Rosewicz who received 2,985 votes or 12.25% of the vote in Cuyahoga County. (Editor’s note: The 9^thDistrict extends over many counties –all the way to Toledo.)

In the 11^th District Democratic Primary race for the United States House of Representatives, the incumbent Marcia Fudge received 62,628 votes or 91.07% of the vote; Tariq Shabazz received 3.29% of the votes; Michael Hood 3.28%; and James Jerome Bell 2.26%.

In areas served by the Plain Press there was one contested primary for State of Ohio House of Representatives.  In that race, in the 10^th District, Terrence Upchurch won with 6,151 votes or 81.95% of the vote over J. Allen Burger who received 18.05% of the vote.

There were also a number of contested judicial races in the Democratic Primary.

In a race for a seat on the 8^th District Court of Appeals, Emanuella D. Groves came in first with 49,836 votes or 42.64%; Gayle Williams-Byers was second with 20.31% of the vote; Denise Nancy Rini third with 19.35%, and Hugh Carlin came in fourth with 17.71% of the vote.

In another contested race for a seat on the 8^th District Court of Appeals, Lisa Forbes came in first with 67,918 votes or 55.96% of the votes cast; she was followed by Gabriella Rosalina with 31.16%; James Satola with 6.77%; and Alyson Monroe Brown with 6.11%.

In the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas there were several contested races. In the General Division Richard Bell received 49,348 votes or 44.86% to come in first; Jennifer O’ Donnell came in second with 40.39% of the vote; and Anne McDonough came in third with 14.75%.

In the Domestic Relations Division of the Court of Common Pleas Colleen Ann Reali received 51,551 votes or 44.47% to come in first; Joy Kennedy was second with 26.57%; Joseph Russo was third with 16.37%; James Reddy was fourth with 7.25% and Genny Millas was fifth with 5.35% of the vote.

On the Republican Primary Ballot there were contested races for both the 9^th and 11^th Congressional Districts.

In the 9^th Congressional District Republican Primary race, Rob Weber received the most votes in Cuyahoga County with 60.99% of the vote; Timothy Corrigan was second with 25.57%; Tim Connors third with 7.19%; and Charles Barrett fourth with 6.25%.

In the 11^th Congressional District Republican Primary Laverne Gore came in first with 3,926 votes or 49.31%; Jonah Schulz was second with 40.14%; Shalira Taylor was third with 10.55% of the vote.

Three City of Cleveland Charter Amendments all passed. Issue 5 concerning ballot counting received 28,267 votes or 90.17% yes votes. Issue 6 concerning a City Council Salary Limit received a 74.51% approval. Issue 7 concerning City Council Meetings dates following a holiday received 29,020 votes for a 92.11% approval rate.

Issue 33 the Cuyahoga County Replacement and Increase Tax Levy for health and human services passed with 132,124 votes for the levy or 69.66% of the vote.