TROY — Early in-person voting is under way in Miami County ahead of the Tuesday, Nov. 3 general election, and the top local question is a Miami County Park District levy that would fund the county’s nature preserves for the next decade while replacing the district’s current, higher levy.
The park district is asking for an additional 1.4-mill levy estimated to raise $5,966,102 a year, costing the owner of a $100,000 home about $49 a year, for 10 years beginning in 2026, for the maintenance and improvement of the district’s nature reserves and preserves, which include Charleston Falls Preserve, Garbry Big Woods, the Hobart Urban Nature Preserve, Stillwater Prairie Reserve and Lost Creek Reserve. The ballot language also states that the district’s existing 1.5-mill levy will not be collected if the new tax is approved — in effect, voters are being asked to swap the current levy for a lower-rate one.
A second countywide question renews funding for the Tri-County Board of Recovery Services, the mental health and addiction services board serving Darke, Miami and Shelby counties. The renewal is 0.6 mill, estimated to raise $2,596,848 a year at about $10 per $100,000 of value, for five years beginning in 2027.
At the courthouse, Republican Ted Mercer faces Democrat Bill Whitten for county commissioner, while Republican Matthew W. Gearhardt is unopposed for county auditor. Republican Jeannine N. Pratt is the only candidate for a common pleas general division judgeship, and Republican Chris Epley is on the ballot for the 2nd District Court of Appeals.
District races are contested up and down the ballot. Republican U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson faces Democrat Vanessa Enoch in the 8th Congressional District, Republican state Sen. Phil Plummer faces Democrat Jeffrey Harris in the 5th District, and Republican state Rep. Johnathan Newman faces Democrat Katie Koehler Wagner in the 80th District. Local questions include a Milton-Union Schools renewal of 3.9 mills for permanent improvements, estimated at $455,178 a year and $51 per $100,000 home; a Troy City Schools renewal of 0.85 mill for the Hayner Cultural Center, estimated at $663,817 a year; a Miami Southwest Joint Ambulance District renewal of 1.5 mills; and a Monroe Township renewal of 0.5 mill for Tipp Monroe Community Services, estimated at $248,022 a year.
Statewide, Miami County voters will help choose Ohio’s next governor between Republicans Vivek Ramaswamy and Robert A. McColley and Democrats Amy Acton and David Pepper, and decide the U.S. Senate race for an unexpired term between Republican Jon Husted and Democrat Sherrod Brown. Also on every Ohio ballot are races for attorney general, auditor, secretary of state and treasurer, two Ohio Supreme Court seats, and State Issue 3, a proposed constitutional amendment that would require voters to present photo identification in order to vote.
Early in-person voting continues at the Miami County Board of Elections, 215 West Main St. in Troy, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays through Oct. 23, then 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24; 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26; 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, which is also the deadline to request an absentee ballot; 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28 through 30; 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31; and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1. Absentee ballots must be received by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day, when polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and in-person voters must show an accepted photo ID.
Photo: Christopher L. Riley, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons