Primaries decided by less than 20 percent of voters

Eddie Rabbit may love a rainy night, but local voters do not appear to love a rainy day. As you can see from the photos of polling locations above and below, standing in the rain to cast a ballot was not a popular decision on May 5. Even with a record number of contested races on both the Republican and Democratic ballots, of 284,739 potential voters, only 51,826 cast ballots for the 2026 Primary Election in Hamilton County.

Once we got past the disappointment of an 18.20 percent voter turnout, the good news was that in-person voting was efficient and the Hamilton County Elections Office was able to tabulate votes in what may be record time.

Please note that results listed in today’s newspaper are final but unofficial. The numbers still need to be certified by the Election Board in the days to come.

Reporter photos