CADIZ — Early voting is under way in Harrison County, where voters are deciding a Nov. 3 general election ballot topped locally by four separate countywide renewal levies and a two-way race for county commissioner. The Harrison County Board of Elections, at 538 North Main Street, Suite B, in the Government Center in Cadiz, is open for early in-person voting from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday this week.
The biggest of the four county questions asks voters to renew the levy that maintains and operates the Harrison County Home. The renewal would collect about $1,609,394 a year at 1.5 mills — about $53 for each $100,000 of a property’s appraised value — for five years, commencing in 2027 and first due in 2028. Because it is a renewal rather than a new tax, it would continue the rate property owners already pay toward the county-run residential facility.
Three more county renewals sit beside it on every ballot in the county. A 1-mill renewal for police protection, including sheriff’s office salaries and equipment, would collect about $1,165,943 a year, about $35 per $100,000 of value, for five years. A 0.75-mill renewal for the Ohio Cooperative Extension Service — funding 4-H, agriculture and natural resources, home economics and economic development work — would collect about $827,871 a year, about $26 per $100,000. And a second 0.75-mill renewal, also about $26 per $100,000, would collect about $804,697 a year for senior citizens services through the Harrison County Council on Aging.
The most competitive county race on the ballot is for county commissioner, for the full term beginning Jan. 1, 2027. Republican Dustin Corder faces Michelle Meyer, who is running as a non-party candidate, giving voters a two-candidate choice for the seat on the three-member board that sets the county budget and oversees county departments.
The rest of the county offices are uncontested this cycle. Republican Clint Barr is the only candidate for county auditor, T. Shawn Hervey is the only candidate for judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the term beginning April 19, 2027, and Matthew Paul Puskarich is the only candidate for the court’s probate and juvenile division. Voters can confirm exactly which township, village and school questions, if any, apply to them through the board of elections sample ballot lookup before they vote.
District races give Harrison County voters several more contested choices. Republican Michael A. Rulli faces Democrat Elizabeth Kirtley in the 6th Congressional District, Democrat Paul Cameron faces Republican Ty Moore in the 95th Ohio House District, and the Seventh District Court of Appeals has one contested seat, where Democrat Katherine Rudzik faces Republican Mark Anthony Hanni, alongside Republican Molly K. Johnson, who is unopposed for the court’s other open seat.
Above the local races, Harrison County voters will also help decide Ohio’s statewide contests — governor, attorney general, auditor, secretary of state and treasurer, two seats on the Ohio Supreme Court, the U.S. Senate race between Republican Jon Husted and Democrat Sherrod Brown, and statewide Issue 3, the proposed constitutional amendment that would require voters to present photo identification in order to vote.
Early voting hours expand in the final week: 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 26, 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 27, and 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, Oct. 28 to 30, with weekend hours on Saturday, Oct. 24 and Saturday, Oct. 31, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and a final Sunday session on Nov. 1 from 1 to 5 p.m. Voters must bring an accepted photo ID, such as an Ohio driver’s license, a state ID card or a U.S. passport. On Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, polls across Harrison County will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Photo: Bwsmith84, CC BY