5 things to know about Tuesday's primary election

There is a primary election on Tuesday. Here are 5 things you need to know:

What's on the ballot?

Unless you're a party loyalist, there are no contested races on your ballot for this election, and no ballot issues before voters

In the race for House of Representatives, Democrats who live in the 72nd District will see Kathleen Clyde on their ballot, and Republicans will see Gail Pavliga. But neither has opposition in the primary, with both set to face off in the November general election.

Pavliga currently represents the 75th District, which includes most of Portage County, but not the northern tier including Aurora, Garrettsville and Mantua. The new 72nd District includes most of Portage County, including Ravenna, Kent, Streetsboro, Aurora, Hiram, Mantua, Rootstown and parts of Randolph. The district does not include most of the county's southern tier or parts of eastern Portage.

The same is true in the new 35th District, where Democrats will see Lori O'Neill of Bainbridge on their ballot while Republicans will see Steve Demetriou of Chagrin Falls. The 35th District includes Atwater, Brimfield, Deerfield, Garrettsville, Palmyra, Paris Township, parts of Randolph, Suffield and Windham, as well as parts of Summit and Geauga counties.

In addition, both Democrats and Republicans will decide which men and women will serve in their party's central committees. In Portage County, all those races are contested. On the Republican side, Brian Ames, Mike Berger and James S. Simon are running for central committee man, while Elayne Cross, Patty Gascoyne and Mary E. O'Toole are running for central committee woman. On the Democratic side, Brad Cromes and Pete Zeigler are running for central committee man, while Clyde and Elizabeth Walters are running for central committee woman.

Because only members of the parties can decide who can serve on their central committee, those races will be decided in the primary.

Where do I vote?

Monday is the last day for early, in-person voting at the Portage County Board of Elections, which concludes at 2 p.m. Those who still need to submit an absentee ballot should be sure it's postmarked no later than Monday or place it in the drop box at the Board of Elections by 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

The polls will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Election Day. Voters can find a list of polling locations on the board of elections website.

Why is there a second primary?

The drawing of new maps for Ohio's 99 House seats and 33 Senate seats was supposed to be done late last year, leaving plenty of time for candidates to review the new lines before the February 2022 filing deadline.

But that's not what happened.

The Republican majority on Ohio's Redistricting Commission submitted five sets of maps, and the state Supreme Court ruled every single one unconstitutional.

No constitutional set of maps exists as of yet, but a trio of federal judges ordered Ohio to use the third set for 2022 only. And the problem, according to Democrats, is that those maps were drawn in March – after Republicans saw exactly where Democratic candidates planned to run.

A spokesman for House Speaker Bob Cupp, R-Lima, however, said Republicans didn't use Democrats' addresses when drafting districts.

Low voter turnout expected

Faith Lyon, director of the Portage County Board of Elections, estimated voter turnout at between 10 and 15 percent. She noted that with it being summer, a lot of people are away on vacation or focused on getting back to school.

"I honestly believe that's a little high, but I am hopeful," she said. "I am hoping for more."

As of Friday, only 414 people had voted in the elections board office so far, and about the same had submitted ballots by mail or drop box.

Partisan infighting

State representative races in Portage County aren't hotly contested within parties. But statewide, another byproduct of Ohio's drawn-out redistricting process is a handful of hotly contested primaries and candidates left out in the cold, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

A Republican candidate sued to get on the August ballot for an open House seat in eastern Hamilton County. Meanwhile, a political newcomer chose to drop out rather than challenge his party's leader in the House, for her Upper Arlington seat. And two candidates are both in the race for Ohio's 16th House District, a Democratic-leaning seat that covers the Cleveland suburbs.

Locally, Ames, who lives in Randolph, filed a lawsuit in the Ohio Supreme Court to stop the primary, arguing that people should only be allowed to vote in that election under the same party under which they voted in May. When Ames, who is a candidate for Republican Central Committee man, was asked if he was concerned that Democrats might take a Republican ballot to vote against him, Ames said he believed that already happened, referring to the May primary, when he lost a three-way primary to become county auditor to Republican Matt Kelly.

"I'm getting phone calls saying that I was going to ruin everything," Ames said when he filed his suit. "I said I think it's pretty much ruined already."

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: 5 things to know about Tuesday's primary