CAMBRIDGE, Ohio — Early in-person voting is under way at the Guernsey County Board of Elections, 627 Wheeling Avenue, Suite 101, and Cambridge-area voters heading into the Tuesday, Nov. 3 general election will decide four countywide levies for essential services and the county’s only contested commissioner race. The board will remain at its current location through the November election and will not move to its new Steubenville Avenue site until after the general election is complete.
The four countywide levies sit at the heart of the Guernsey ballot. Guernsey County Children Services is seeking an additional 1.25-mill levy for 10 years, estimated to generate about $1.75 million a year and cost the owner of a $100,000 home $44 a year. A similar Children Services levy failed in the spring primary, and agency officials say foster placement costs rose from $3.02 million in 2020 to $5.61 million in 2025, with the agency already having cut six child welfare worker positions in the past nine months.
The other three countywide questions are renewals. The Sheriff’s Office seeks a five-year, 1-mill renewal for the Next Generation 911 system, estimated to generate about $1.06 million a year and cost $23.34 annually on a $100,000 home; dispatchers handle calls for 13 fire and EMS providers and five law enforcement agencies countywide. Meals on Wheels seeks a five-year, 0.75-mill renewal generating an estimated $914,994 a year at $22 per $100,000 home, after serving 195,300 meals in 2025. The Guernsey County District Public Library seeks a five-year, 1-mill renewal generating an estimated $868,569 a year at $35 per $100,000 home.
The contested county race is for Guernsey County Commissioner for the term beginning Jan. 1, 2027, where Republican incumbent Dave Wilson of Cambridge faces Democrat Tom Hannon of Senecaville. Wilson won the Republican primary with 2,397 votes, and the two candidates met in a public forum this month alongside the levy presentations. Cambridge City Schools voters will also decide a renewal tax levy.
Every Guernsey 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 began Oct. 6 and follows the statewide schedule, including Saturday hours on Oct. 24 and Oct. 31 and Sunday, Nov. 1 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Absentee applications must be received by 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 27, voted ballots must reach the board by 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 3, and polls on Election Day are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Photo: Willjay, CC BY-SA 3.0