Primary draws low turnout in Erie County

SANDUSKY — Tuesday's unusual August primary election in Erie County was a low-key affair, with election officials reporting low turnout and not much suspense. Ohio's second primary election will cost about $25 million and is settling party nominations for seats in the Ohio General Assembly and deciding places in the two parties' central committees. A May primary nominated candidates for Congress and other positions. The second primary was made necessary by ongoing court battles over the redrawn boundary lines for the Ohio General Assembly. The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that Republicans who controlled the process continued to carry out partisan gerrymandering. Lori Salyers, director of the Erie County Board of Elections, described turnout Tuesday as "a little low, a little slow." Much of Erie County did not have a contested election to vote on. • State Rep. D.J. Swearingen did not have a Republican primary opponent. • And his Democratic challenger, Jim Obergefell, likewise did not face any other Democrats in the nomination for the 89th Ohio House District. In portions of eastern Erie County, state Rep. Dick Stein, R-Norwalk, did face a primary opponent in his redrawn Ohio House District 54. He was facing a write-in challenge from Republican Kathleen Beyer. Portions of eastern Erie County also now are included in Ohio Senate District 13, which is mostly in Lorain County but also includes northeast Huron County. It featured a Republican primary race between Kirsten Hill and state Sen. Nathan Manning, R-North Ridgeville. Hill is a member of the state school board who attended the Jan. 6 "Stop the Steal" pro-Donald Trump rally at the national capitol last year. Salyers said some voters may have been confused by the timing of the second primary. "August is kind of an unusual month to have a primary," she said. "August kind of threw everybody off." Salyers said that as of mid-afternoon there had been few problems with the primary, although some election workers called off sick from COVID-19. COVID-19 cases have been increasing recently in Erie County. The election board was able to cope with the vacancies because some were in multi–precinct locations and because turnout is low, Salyers said.