With the 2024 primary coming up shortly – we created an election guide on everything you need to know about the March 19 election. This guide only includes Northeast Ohio.
If this guide is missing any candidate, please email Statehouse reporter Morgan Trau at morgan.trau@wews.com with the subject line "2024 PRIMARY GUIDE UPDATE."
Presidential
Despite every other candidate dropping out, you will see multiple candidates on the ballot.
Democratic primary: Incumbent President Joe Biden and Dean Phillips, who dropped out.
Republican primary: Former President Donald Trump and the following who dropped out: Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Chris Christie and Ron DeSantis.
U.S. Senate
Three candidates are running in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate.
Republican primary: State Sen. Matt Dolan, Sec. of State Frank LaRose and businessman Bernie Moreno.
The winner faces off against Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown.
U.S. House
There are 7 races impacting Northeast Ohio.
District 4 – Includes Ashland and Richland
Democratic primary: Stephen Thomas and Tamie Wilson
The winner faces off against Republican incumbent Jim Jordan.
District 5 – Includes Lorain
Republican primary: Incumbent Bob Latta and Robert Owsiak Jr
The winner will face off against Democrat Keith Mundy.
District 6 – Includes Stark, Mahoning and Tuscarawas
Democratic primary: Rylan Finzer and Michael Kripchak
Republican primary: Michael Rulli, Reggie Stoltzfus and Rick Tsai
The winners will face off against independent William Farms.
District 7 – Includes Medina and Wayne
Democratic primary: Doug Bugie and Matthew Diemer
The winner will face off against Republican incumbent Max Miller.
District 11 – Cuyahoga
Republican primary: James Hemphill, Alan Rapoport and Landry Simmons Jr.
The winner will face off against Democratic incumbent Shontel Brown and independents Tony Evans and Sean Freeman.
District 13 – Summit
Republican primary: Chris Banweg, Kevin Coughlin and Richard Morckel
The winner will face off against Democratic incumbent Emilia Sykes and Liam Walker of the George Wallace Party.
District 14 – Includes Lake, Geauga, Portage, Ashtabula and Trumbull
Republican primary: Incumbent David Joyce, Elayne Cross and Kenneth Polke
The winner will face off against Democrat Brian Kenderes.
State Supreme Court
There is one primary race for the Ohio Supreme Court.
Democratic primary: Lisa Forbes vs Terri Jamison
The winner will face off against Republican Dan Hawkins.
District maps
First things first, you need to figure out what district you live in. The Sec. of State website has a handy tool called "Find my District."
Once you are there, type in your address. You should get a pop-up stating the numbers for your house, senate, congressional and school district.
Remember or write those down and come back to this guide.
State Senate
There are two primary races in Northeast Ohio for the Ohio Senate.
District 18 – Includes Lake and part of Cuyahoga
Democratic primary: Chris Callender and Katie O'Neill
The winner will face off against Republican incumbent Jerry Cirino.
District 32 – Includes Geauga, Ashtabula and Trumbull
Republican primary: Incumbent Sandy O'Brien and Mike Loychik
The winner will face off against Democrat Michael Shrodek.
State House
There are 13 primary races in Northeast Ohio for the Ohio House.
District 15 – Includes part of Cuyahoga
Democratic primary: Chris Glassburn and TJ Mulloy
Republican primary: Aaron Borowski and Ryan McClain
District 17 – Includes part of Cuyahoga
Republican primary: Anthony Leon Alexander, Mike Dovilla and Gordon Short
The winner will face off against Democrat Jessica Sutherland.
District 20 – Includes part of Cuyahoga
Democratic primary: Incumbent Terrence Upchurch and Nathaniel Hartfield (both write-ins)
The winner will face off against Republican Donna Brown.
District 21 – Includes part of Cuyahoga
Democratic primary: Incumbent Elliot Forhan, Eric Synenberg and Angel Washington
The winner will face off against Republican Joshua Malovasic (write in).
District 32 – Includes part of Summit
Republican primary: Jack K. Daniels and Mary Stormer
The winner will face off against Democrat Jim Colopy.
District 34 – Includes part of Summit
Democratic primary: Dina Edwards, Derrick Hall and Nathan Jarosz
The winner will face off against Republican Adam Bozic.
District 51 – Includes Tuscarawas and part of Stark
Democratic primary: John Bazaar and Joe Rinehart
Republican primary: Incumbent Brett Hillyer and Jodi Salvo
District 54 – Includes part of Lorain and Huron
Republican primary: Kellie Deeter and Anthony Savage
The winner will face off against Democrat Brenda Buchanan.
District 65 – Includes parts of Ashtabula and Trumbull
Republican primary: Laurie Magyar and David Thomas
There is no Democratic challenger.
District 66 – Includes part of Medina
Republican primary: Incumbent Sharon Ray and Gary Fox
The winner will face off against Democrat Bradford Scott Quade.
District 72 – Includes part of Portage
Republican primary: Incumbent Gail Pavliga and Heidi Workman
The winner will face off against Democrat Nathaniel Adams.
District 77 – Includes Wayne
Republican primary: Bill Albright, Meredith Craig, Dennis Finley, Frank Grande and Josh Hlavaty
The winner will face off against Democrat Mark Gooch.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor
Democratic primary: Incumbent Michael O’Malley and Matthew Ahn
The winner faces off against Republican Anthony Alto (write-in)
Cuyahoga County Council
District 4
Democratic primary: Mark Casselberry and Colleen Day
The winner faces off against Republican Danielle Downs
District 8
Democratic primary: Incumbent Pernel Jones Jr. and Mike Dudley Sr.
There is no Republican challenger.
County-wide ballot measures
There is only one ballot measure impacting Northeast Ohio.
Issue 26 in Cuyahoga County — Property Tax Renewal for Health and Human Services Measure
A “yes” vote on Issue 26 would renew an eight-year Health and Human Services levy. The 4.8 mill levy generates $137 million annually for roughly half of local HHS funding. The revenue is earmarked specifically for health and human services and cannot be used for anything else.
A "no" vote rejects it.
The levy provides some or all of the funding for dozens of county departments and programs, including universal pre-K, the Division of Children and Family Services, the Office of Homeless Services, MetroHealth and more. It makes up 95% of funding for the Division of Senior and Adult Services.
RELATED: Cuyahoga County seeks health and human services levy renewal on March 19 ballot
City and township ballot measures
This depends on your area.
Judges
Court of appeals judges and local municipality judges will also be on the ballot.
Voting
Click here to register to vote.
Click here to check your registration status.
Election Day is March 19. Polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. If not returned by mail, absentee ballots must be received by your board of elections by 7:30 p.m.
There are still early in-person voting hours. You MUST vote at your county board of elections if you are voting early.
If you do not know your county's website, click or tap here. This contains their addresses, emails and phone numbers.
March 13-15: 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
March 16: 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
March 17: 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
March 18: Mailed absentee ballots must be postmarked by this date.
March 19: Primary Election: Polls are open from 6:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.
March 19: Absentee Ballots may be returned by mail or personally delivered to your county board of elections. If not returned by mail, absentee ballots must be received by your board of elections by 7:30 p.m.
March 23: Last day for boards of elections to receive absentee ballots that have been postmarked on or before March 18.
Where to vote
Click here to find your polling location.
Voter identification
You need to bring a photo ID when voting in person. Acceptable forms are a valid Ohio driver's license, a U.S. passport or a military ID. You may no longer use bank statements or utility bills.
Other acceptable forms of ID are a state of Ohio ID card; an interim ID form issued by the Ohio BMV, a U.S. passport card, an Ohio National Guard ID card and a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ID card.
Other unacceptable forms of ID are a driver’s license or photo identification card issued by a state other than Ohio; a Social Security card, birth certificate, insurance card, government check, paycheck or other government document or any registration acknowledgment notice from the county board of elections.
The IDs must have an expiration date that has not passed; a photograph of the voter, and the voter’s name, which must substantially conform to the voter’s name as it appears in the Poll List or in the Poll Book.
If you do not have any of the approved forms of identification, you are allowed to cast a provisional ballot. To have your vote counted, you must return to the BOE within four days of the election to provide a photo ID.
Nonpartisan voter helpline
If you have any questions or concerns about voting, a nonpartisan helpline has been created.
Call or text 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) to speak with a trained Election Protection volunteer in English.
The hotline also comes in different languages
Spanish: 888-VE-Y-VOTA (888-839-8682)
Asian languages: 888-API-VOTE (888-274-8683)
Arabic: 844-YALLA-US (844-925-5287)
If this document is missing anything or any candidate, please email Statehouse reporter Morgan Trau at morgan.trau@wews.com with the subject line "2024 PRIMARY GUIDE UPDATE."
Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.
