OHIO 18 Electoral Votes 
link to clickable map
Population 
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Ohio Secretary of State
Total Resident Population, July 1, 2019 est.
11,689,100

Total Registration, Nov. 2020
 8,073,829

Ohio has: 88 counties.
Largest counties (27 are 100,000 plus): Franklin, Cuyahoga, Hamilton, Summit, Montgomery.
Largest cities (100,000-plus): Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo, Akron, Dayton. 

Government
Governor: Mike DeWine (R) elected in 2018. 
State Legislature: Ohio General Assembly  House: 99 seats  Senate: 33 seats
Local: Local Government, OML, CCAO   NACO
U.S. House: 12R, 4D - 1. S.Chabot (R) | 2/ B.Wenstrup (R) | 3. J.Beatty (D) | 4. J.Jordan (R) | 5. B.Latta (R)6. B.Johnson (R) | 7. B.Gibbs (R) | 8.W.Davidson (R) | 9. M.Kaptur (D) | 10. M.Turner (R) | 11. M.Fudge (D) | 12. T.Balderson (R) | 13. T.Ryan (D) | 14. D.Joyce (R) | 15. S.Stivers (R) | 16. A.Gonzalez (R).   >
U.S. Senate: Sherrod Brown (D) re-elected in 2012, Rob Portman (R) re-elected in 2016. 
2020
U.S. House: All 16 House Members sought re-election, and almost all were in safe seats.  The most competitive race was in OH-1, where veteran lawmaker U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot (R) defeated health care advocate Kate Schroder (D) by 51.80% to 44.65% and 3.55% for Kevin Kahn (L).
State Legislature: 16 of 33 Senate seats and all 99 House seats were up.  The balance in the Senate went from 24R,9D to 25R,8D and in the House from 61R,38D to 64R,35D.
Ballot Measures: There were no statewide ballot measures.

 State of Ohio
Secretary of State

OH Democratic Party
OH Republican Party
Libertarian Party of OH
Green Party of OH
Constitution Party of OH

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Politics1-OH
Ballotpedia-OH


The Buckeye State
General Election -- Tuesday, November 3, 2020

Voter Registration Deadline
: Oct. 5, 2020.


Absentee ballots mailed: beginning Oct. 6, 2020.

Vote early in person: Oct. 6-Nov. 2, 2020.


Absentee Ballot Litigation



Domestic absentee ballots cast by mail (or drpped off at BOEs): 2,144,504
Domestic absentee ballots requested and cast in person: 1,345,625
Total number of domestic absentee balots counted (by mail and in person): 3,481,225
     Official Results >
    
Biden/Harris (Dem.)
2,679,165
(45.24)
Hawkins/Walker
18,812
(0.32)
Jorgensen/Cohen (Lib.)
67,569
(1.14)
+Trump/Pence (Rep.)
3,154,834
(53.27)
w/ins 1,822
(0.03)
Total........5,922,202

Total voters 5,974,121

Ballot Access for Independent Candidates
Overview: Ohio leaned Republican, but it was considered a battleground state, and polling showed a close race.  After a late flurry of activity, Trump-Pence carried the Buckeye State by almost the same margin as in 2016, winning with a plurality of 475,669 votes (8.03 percentage points).  The Republican ticket carried 81 counties to seven for Biden.  Turnout, at 73.99% of registered voters, was the highest since 1992.
  
Signaling Ohio's importance, President Trump held his first rally of 2020 on Jan. 9 in Toledo.  By March the pandemic struck, forcing an extension of the primary and putting a damper on activity.  A highlight or lowlight of the Fall campaign was the first presidential debate in Cleveland on Sept. 29.  The Trump campaign closed with a fair number of visits in the latter part of October, while on the Democratic side Joe Biden made a late visit to Cleveland, on Nov. 2.  Ohio saw modest spending on presidential advertising, but nowhere near the level of the most competitive states. 
General Election Details 
Trump  |  Biden
[OHSOS] BALLOT [PDF]

Presidential Preference Primary -- Tuesday, March 17 and April 28, 2020 extension
Democrats
Biden 647,284 (72.37%), Sanders 149,683 (16.73%)... Total 894,383.  details

153 Delegates: 89 District, 29 At-Large, 19 PLEO and 17 Unpledged.

Republicans
Trump 713,546 votes (100%) ...only choice on the  ballot.



General Election Winners in Ohio, 1992-2016
1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016
Clinton
40.18%
Clinton
47.38%
Bush
49.99%
Bush
50.81%
Obama
51.50%
Obama
50.67%
Trump
51.69%
  and the details...

General Election -- Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Voting Eligible Population*: 8,737,173.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 62.9%.

Voter Registration Deadline
: Oct. 18, 2016.
Early In-Person Absentee Voting: Oct. 19 - Nov. 7, 2016. >
     Official Results >

 
Clinton/Kaine (Dem.)
2,394,164
(43.56)
Duncan/Johnson (npa)
24,235
(0.44)
Johnson/Weld
174,498
(3.17)
Stein/Baraka (Grn.)
46,271
(0.84)
+Trump/Pence (Rep.)
2,841,005
(51.69)
McMullin (w/in)
12,574
(0.23)
Castle (w/in)
1,887
(0.03)
more w/ins (16)
1,853

Total........5,496,487

Total voters 5,607,641
Overview: Republicans signaled Ohio's importance by holding their Convention in Cleveland.  Ohio was indeed a battleground state, drawing visits from candidates and a barrage of TV ads. 
   There was one very awkward fact for the Trump campaign: the state's Republican Gov. John Kasich declined to endorse Trump.
  The extent of the rift became apparent when Trump state director Robert Paduchik penned an Oct. 15 letter to members of the Ohio Republican Party state central committee declaring that party chairman Matt Borges, who is close to Kasich, "does not represent or speak for the candidate and he no longer has any affiliation with the Trump-Pence campaign." [PDF] 
   Meanwhile, there were signs that the Clinton campaign was effectively conceding the state, although not giving up entirely.  After her Labor Day rally with Tim Kaine in Cleveland, where Clinton suffered a serious coughing fit, she did not visit the state again until Oct. 3.  Instead, visits by Kaine, Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton filled the gap.  Kaine spent significantly less time in the state as well. The closing week had a handful of visits, but was not filled as in other battleground states.  If the  U.S. Senate campaign had proved more competitive there might have been synergies that would have led the Clinton campaign to go all in.
   When the votes were tallied Trump
had the strongest showing since George H.W. Bush defeated Michael Dukakis by almost 11 percentage points in 1988.  Trump carried 80 counties to eight for Clinton, finishing with a plurality of 446,841 votes (8.13 percentage points),
General Election Visits
Clinton  |  Trump
BALLOT [PDF]

See also: Michael Curtin and Joe Hallett.  Aug. 2015.  Ohio Politics Almanac, Third Ed. Revised and Updated.  Kent, OH: The Kent State University Press.


General Election -- Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Voting Eligible Population*: 8,644,958.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 64.6%.

Voter Registration Deadline
: October 9, 2012.
Early In-Person Absentee Voting: October 2 - November 5, 2012.
     Official Results >

 
Alexander/Mendoza(Soc.)
2,967
(0.05)
Duncan/Johnson (Ind.)
12,502
(0.22)
Goode/Clymer (Const.)
8,151
(0.15)
Johnson/Gray (Lib.)
49,493
(0.89)
+Obama/Biden (Dem.)
2,827,621
(50.67)
Romney/Ryan (Rep.)
2,661,407
(47.69)
Stein/Honkala (Grn.)
18,574
(0.33)
6 Write Ins
107

Total........5,580,822



Total votes cast: 5,632,423.  

2012 Overview
Ohio, the quintessential battleground state, went to Obama-Biden by 166,214 votes (2.98 percentage points).  127,528 fewer votes were tallied in the presidential race than in 2008.  The Republican ticket carried 71 counties to 17 for the Democrats.
General Election Details
Obama  |  Romney
BALLOT [PDF]


General Election -- Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Voting Eligible Population*: 8,541,239.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 66.7%.

About 30% voted absentee:
1,744,753 absentee ballots were issued, of which 1,717,256 (98.4%) were counted...these included over 214,000 voters who voted in person by absentee from Sept. 30-Oct. 24.


206,859 provisional ballots were issued, of which 166,870 (80.7%) were counted.

Total Registration:
8,287,665
Official Amended Results >


Baldwin/Castle (Const.)
12,565 (0.22)
Barr/Root (Lib.) 19,917 (0.35)
Duncan/Johnson (Ind.)
3,905
(0.07)
McCain/Palin (Rep.)
2,677,820 (46.91)
McKinney/Clemente (Grn.)
8,518
(0.15)
Moore/Alexander (Soc.)
2,735 (0.05)
Nader/Gonzalez (Ind.)
42,337 (0.74)
+Obama/Biden (Dem.)
2,940,044
(51.50)
w/ins (6)
509
-
Total........5,708,350



Total votes cast: 5,775,369.

2008 Overview
After an intense campaign, Obama-Biden prevailed in battleground Ohio by 262,224 votes (4.59 percentage points).  The Republican ticket carried 66 counties to 22 for the Democrats.
General Election Details
Obama/Allies  |  McCain/Allies   |  Nader



General Election -- Tuesday, November 2, 2004
Voting Eligible Population*: 8,427,696.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 66.8%.


Total Registration: 7,979,630.
Voter registration deadline for the November general election was October 4, 2004.
Official Amended Results 


Badnarik/Campagna (NP)
14,676
(0.26)
+Bush/Cheney (Rep.)
2,859,768
(50.81)
David Keith Cobb (w/in)
192
Other w/in (3) 166
Kerry/Edwards (Dem.) 2,741,167
(48.71)
Peroutka/Baldwin (NP) 11,939 (0.21)
Total........5,627,908

Final results (post-recount) --amended official results as of January 4, 2005.

2004 Overview
Because of its importance to both campaigns, the Ohio was seen as the Florida of 2004, a must-win state.  The candidates made frequent visits, and their allies poured in resources.  Intense legal activity in the weeks leading up to Election Day suggested the possibility of Florida-type post-election debacle.  The focus led to high turnout; 925,910 more votes were cast in the race for president than in 2000.  Although the Kerry campaign held out thin hopes for Ohio as Election Night segued into the morning after, on the afternoon of November 3 Kerry conceded.  Nonethess legal activity continued into the post-election period, a recount of sorts occurred, and investigations were begun.  Final results following the recount put Bush's plurality at 118,601 votes (2.10 percentage points); the Republican ticket carried 72 counties to 16 for Kerry-Edwards.
General Election Details  |  Photos
Kerry/Allies  |  Bush-Cheney '04

General Election -- Tuesday, November 7, 2000
Voting Eligible Population*: 8,295,592.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 56.7%.


Total Registration: 7,535,188.
Official Results  


Browne/Olivier (Lib.)
13,473
(0.29)
Buchanan/Foster (Ind.)
26,721
(0.57)
+Bush/Cheney (Rep.)
2,350,363
(49.99)
Gore/Lieberman (Dem.)
2,183,628
(46.44)
Hagelin/Goldhaber (NLP)
6,181
(0.13)
Harris/Trowe (w/in)
10
Nader/LaDuke (Ind.)
117,799
(2.51)
Phillips/Frazier (Ind.)
3,823
(0.08)
Total........4,701,998

.

Total votes cast: 4,795,989


2000 Overview
This bellweather battleground state which had gone to Clinton-Gore in 1996, returned to the Republican column.  Bush won with a plurality of 166,735 votes (3.55 percentage points) and carried 72 counties to 16 for Gore.  Historic Maps.
General Election Activities

1992 and 1996 General Elections
Archive Pages: 2016 | 2012 | 2008 | 2004 | 2000 1992
Clinton (Dem.).....1,984,945 (40.18)
Bush (Rep.).........1,894,310 (38.35)
Perot (Ind.)..........1,036,426
 (20.98)
Others (5+w/ins)......24,283
(0.49)
Total........4,939,964

1996
Clinton (Dem.).....2,148,222 (47.38)
Dole (Rep.)..........1,859,883 (41.02)
Perot (Ref.)............483,207
 (10.66)
Others (4+w/ins).....43,122
(0.95)
Total........4,534,434