Lake County just held an election where almost nobody showed up, yet the handful who did essentially called all the shots. On Tuesday, May 5, unofficial returns show roughly 8,100 ballots cast out of about 161,300 registered residents, and that tiny slice of voters ended up deciding congressional primaries and school levies for everyone else.
Turnout and county totals
According to the Lake County Board of Elections, 8,140 ballots were cast from 161,296 registered voters, a turnout of just 5.05%. Of those, 4,267 were Democratic ballots and 3,444 were Republican ballots. That worked out to a Democratic participation rate of 28.46% and a Republican turnout of 10.19% in the county’s unofficial breakdown.
The county stamped its election-night PDF with a timestamp and labeled it "Unofficial Results," a reminder that the numbers are preliminary but still detailed enough to show who bothered to vote and who stayed home.
Where this fits statewide
The May 5 primary was not just a sleepy local affair. It also locked in key statewide matchups that will shape the November ballot, from governor to U.S. Senate. Statewide coverage from WVXU tracked county-by-county results as they rolled in and highlighted the candidates now heading into the general election.
Local takeaways: Congress and levies
Zooming back in on Lake County, the congressional contests and tax issues showed how much power a small group of voters can wield. In the 14th District Democratic primary, county returns had Maria Jukic leading with roughly half of the local vote, outpacing Bill O’Neill and Carl Setzer in the unofficial tally released by the board.
The same report listed several local money measures that came up short. Voters rejected Painesville’s proposed income tax and turned down a similar levy in Wickliffe in the unofficial count, choices that will immediately ripple through school budgets and municipal planning. These tallies show up in the board’s precinct-level pages and in the election-night PDF Lake County Board of Elections summary.
What happens next
For now, Tuesday’s figures are still unofficial. County officials will complete their canvass and certify results in the days ahead, and any campaign that qualifies under state rules can seek a recount. The Ohio Secretary of State issues directives that spell out how county boards must handle canvasses and recounts, while Cleveland.com documented the night’s local tallies and reactions as the numbers came in.
Voters who want to see exactly how their precinct voted can dig into the county’s election pages and the PDF results posted on the Board of Elections site, where those few thousand ballots are laid out in black and white.
