Issue 1 fails by 1 vote in Clark County

Champaign County voters passed it by about 62% to 38%.

Ohio voters resoundingly defeated Issue 1 in Tuesday’s special election, but in Clark County, which has voted more in line with Republicans in recent years, the totals help tell the story of why the proposal failed.

In the county’s 76 precincts, more than 32,000 voters cast ballots and just one vote separated the two sides.

Those voting no on Issue 1 totaled 16,015, according to unofficial results. Yes voters were one vote less than that, with 16,014.

Jason Baker, director of the Clark County Board of Elections, said about 260 provisional ballots remain to be checked and 119 outstanding absentee ballots could still come in. If the absentee ballots were postmarked by Monday and are received by Saturday, they will be counted.

Statewide, voters rejected Issue 1 by a margin of 57% to 43%, according to unofficial numbers.

How did those voting early versus those on Election Day break down in Clark County? Absentee votes by mail totaled 1,805 people, while 5,857 voters voted early in person. On Tuesday, 24,377 people cast ballots.

The 37.1% turnout represented 32,039 of Clark County’s 86,422 registered voters.

Officials said the turnout was strong for an August special election.

“I’ve been doing this for just over eight years now, and we’ve had a few special elections, and this one was unprecedented,”

Baker said. “We were busy; we had small lines at locations, unlike other counties, but the poll workers in Clark County got them through quickly.”

Most of those who voted early voted against the issue, according to research from Dan Harkins, former Clark County Republican party chairman. He said 33.25% of early and absentee votes were to approve the issue, while 66.75% were opposed. He said the majority of Moorefield Twp. and Springfield city voted “no,” while “the balance of Clark County was ‘yes.’”

Chris Creamer, deputy director of the Champaign County Board of Elections, said he was pleased with the 39 percent turnout there.

“I was personally surprised,” Creamer said, noting others in the office were not.

Voters