David W. Jones
DJones@News-Herald.com

Did anything match up in the drive for candidates to get nominated in the Tuesday primary to run in November for four-year terms as governor and lieutenant governor in Ohio?

Well, for one thing, respective Democrats Ted Strickland and Yvette McGee-Brown got nominated by 620,963 unofficial statewide votes, and Republicans John Kasich and Mary Taylor were chosen by 735,790 votes.

Same unofficial gubernatorial votes in Lake County: 9,026 for the Strickland campaign and 10,468 for the Kasich election bid. In Geauga County: 3,902 for Strickland and 7,534 for Kasich.

Compared with a million-plus votes each on two state issues, all the Tuesday ballot tallies suggest is not that much interest in the governor’s race, at least in the primary.

What might voter turnout be on Nov. 2?

Well, in November 2006, it was Strickland chosen for governor with 2,435,331 votes over Republican Ken Blackwell’s 1,474,331.

In that final election, Strickland got 56,482 votes in Lake County and 22,154 votes in Geauga County. Blackwell got 28,675 votes in Lake County and 15,850 in Geauga County.
Independent candidates got barely 1 percent of the vote for governor.

This year, Strickland and Kasich have nowhere to go but up. But with a higher voter turnout?

- David Jones
DJones@News-Herald.com.