Marion County residents will see another light ballot for the Aug. 2 primary election

Marion County residents will have yet another light ballot in front of them for the Aug. 2 primary and special election.

The featured races in the August election are the party primaries for the 86th and 87th Ohio House districts. In the 86th District, incumbent Rep. Tracy Richardson faces a challenge from Dublin resident Michael R. Bohland for the Republican Party nomination.

Richardson, a Marysville resident, is in her second term in the Ohio House. She won both general election campaigns by landslide. Richardson won the 2018 Republican Party primary election after collecting 72% of the vote and then ran without opposition in the 2020 primary election.

According to the biography on his campaign website, Bohland is a resident of Dublin who has spent his entire professional career in the manufacturing and textile industry. He has worked at Honda for the past 13 years.

Marysville attorney Barbara A. Luke is running without opposition in the Democratic Party primary election in the 86th House District. According to her campaign website, she is the founder of her own law firm in Marysville, Luke Lawyers.

In the 87th House District, incumbent Rep. Riordan McClain is unopposed in the Republican Party primary. There is no Democratic Party candidate on the ballot.

McClain, now in his second term in the Ohio House, won a tight race in 2018 to capture the Republican Party nomination and then easily captured the general election after earning 73% of the vote. McClain ran without opposition in the 2020 GOP primary election and cruised to victory in the general election with 76% of the vote in his favor.

Also on the ballot are Democratic and Republican party races for the 26th Ohio Senate District State Central Committee.

On the Democratic Party side, Tony Eufinger and Randy Weston are the male candidates while Kathleen A. Nalley and Carolyn Weston are the female candidates.

On the Republican side, Charles A. Knight, Raymond Metzger, and Jonathan Zucker are the male candidates and Lisa Cooper is the lone female candidate.

The lone issue on the Aug. 2 ballot is the renewal of an income tax for the Cardington-Lincoln School District. Only residents of Richland Township precinct A are voting on this issue. If it passes, the 0.75% income tax would be renewed for five years.

Absentee ballot applications available

Absentee ballot applications for the Aug. 2 primary election are now available at the Marion County Board of Elections office on the ground floor of the Marion County Building, 222 W. Center St. in Marion, or on the website www.boe.ohio.gov/marion. Click on the "Absentee Information" tab and then click on the "Absentee Voting" tab for information.

Early in-person voting for the Aug. 2 primary election begins on Wednesday, July 6 and runs through Monday, Aug. 1. Following is the schedule for in-person absentee voting in Marion County:

• Wednesday, July 6 to Friday, July 8, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• Monday, July 11 to Friday, July 15, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• Monday, July 18 to Friday, July 22, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• Monday, July 25 to Friday, July 29, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

• Saturday, July 30, 2022, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

• Sunday, July 31, 1 to 5 p.m.

• Monday, August 1, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The deadline to request an application for an absentee ballot is noon on Saturday, July 30. Absentee ballots returned by mail must be postmarked by Aug. 1. Absentee ballots not returned by mail must be dropped off at the Board of Elections office by 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 2.

The deadline to register to vote in the Aug. 2 primary election is Tuesday, July 5.

For information about the Aug. 2 primary election, go to the Marion County Board of Elections website www.boe.ohio.gov/marion or the Ohio Secretary of State website VoteOhio.gov.

Email: ecarter@gannett.com | Twitter: @AndrewACCarter

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Marion County will see another light ballot for the Aug. 2 primary