WAUSEON, Ohio — Early in-person voting is under way at the Fulton County Board of Elections, 135 Courthouse Plaza, and Wauseon-area voters casting ballots ahead of the Tuesday, Nov. 3 general election will decide a contested state representative race, a Wauseon parks levy and a stack of township tax questions. Polls on Election Day will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and the deadline to register for this election was Oct. 5.
The top contested race on every Fulton County ballot is for Ohio House District 81, where Democrat David Swanson faces Republican Patti Rockey, according to the Secretary of State’s certified 2026 general election candidate list. Swanson, a U.S. Navy veteran who grew up on a dairy farm, founded Daavlin, a Bryan-based medical device manufacturer with more than 100 employees. Rockey is serving a fourth term as Williams County Recorder and chairs the Williams County Republican Party. The seat is open because sitting Rep. James M. Hoops is not on the November ballot.
In Ohio Senate District 1, Republican Craig S. Riedel is unopposed as he seeks to succeed term-limited Sen. Rob McColley. Riedel previously served in the Ohio House from 2017 to 2022 and holds a civil engineering degree from Ohio State University. For Congress in the 9th District, Democratic incumbent Marcy Kaptur faces Republican Derek Merrin. County offices on the ballot this cycle include county auditor, a Common Pleas Court judgeship in the General and Domestic Division, and county coroner.
Wauseon city voters will decide an additional 1.6-mill property tax levy for parks and recreation, for five years beginning in 2026, along with a city charter amendment covering Section 6.10. The parks question is the city’s main tax ask this fall, and its outcome will shape recreation funding in the county seat for the rest of the decade.
Clinton Township carries the county’s heaviest township slate, with four questions — each for five years commencing with tax year 2026 and first due in 2027. Voters there will decide an additional 1-mill levy for fire protection and an additional 1-mill levy for road improvements, each estimated by the county auditor to raise $271,613 annually, plus a renewal for current expenses estimated at $71,967 a year and a cemetery renewal estimated at $32,787 a year, according to the township’s published levy information. Elsewhere, York Township asks a 1-mill renewal for roads and Chesterfield Township a 0.7-mill renewal for fire protection, while Swanton Public Library voters decide a renewal levy.
Every Fulton County ballot also carries the statewide races — governor, attorney general, auditor of state, secretary of state, treasurer of state, U.S. Senate and two Ohio Supreme Court seats — plus Issue 3, the proposed constitutional amendment on photo identification for voting. Early in-person voting follows the statewide schedule: weekdays through Oct. 23, Saturday hours on Oct. 24 and Oct. 31, extended hours the final week, and Sunday, Nov. 1 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Absentee ballot applications must be received by the board by 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 27, and voted ballots must be returned by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day.