Hartville, Lake Township voters decide key local races, levies

Voters in Hartville and Lake Township made their choices Nov. 4 in several contested local races, as well as tax levies and ballot issues, according to unofficial results from the Stark County Board of Elections.

Editor's note: Election results related to Marlboro Township and Marlington Local Schools can be found in a separate Hartville News article in this week's edition.

In Hartville, Chris Ramsburg led the race for four open Village Council seats with 475 votes (25.16%), followed by Jim Sullivan with 430 (22.78%), Tim Hayden with 421 (22.3%), and Matt Kadas with 330 (17.48%). Steven Reisch rounded out the field with 232 votes (12.29%). No valid petitions were filed for the Board of Public Affairs seat, leaving that position open.

In Lake Township, Jeremy D. Yoder and Sue Grabowski were the top vote-getters in the trustee race, winning the two available seats. Yoder received 2,875 votes (28.98%), and Grabowski earned 2,740 (27.62%). Other candidates included Jeffrey B. Miller with 1,495 votes (15.07%), Aaron P. Floom with 1,003 (10.11%), David L. Chambers with 905 (9.12%), and Carter Ridgway with 903 (9.10%).

For the Lake Local Schools Board of Education, voters selected Adam Doane (2,294 votes, 23.01%), Caitlin Spano (2,034, 20.41%), and David Barrett (2,052, 20.59%) for the three open seats. Niki Johnson (1,898, 19.04%) and Jeff Finefrock (1,690, 16.95%) also ran in the race.

Several ballot issues also drew voter attention. The Stark County Developmental Disabilities levy passed with 40,747 votes (57.48%) in favor and 30,138 (42.52%) against. The Lake Township Fire District levy passed overwhelmingly with 4,095 votes (76.24%) in favor and 1,276 (23.76%) opposed.

Two local liquor options in Lake Township were narrowly defeated. The regular-option measure failed 181–168 (51.86% to 48.14%), while the Sunday sales option failed 198–149 (57.06% to 42.94%).

According to the county, 29.4% of registered voters participated in the general election, with all 274 precincts reporting.