More Franklin County voters participated in the May 2026 primary election than any other county-wide spring primary contest since 2016, according to a review of election records from the board of election and unofficial results.
Over 20% of eligible voters cast ballots in the most recent primary, which included some contested races for statewide seats, U.S. Congress and the Ohio legislature.
That’s lower than the unofficial statewide average for voter turnout, which is 22.6% as of May 6. Franklin County also had the lowest turnout among seven-county central Ohio region.
As of 2:30 p.m. May 6, there are still 142 outstanding overseas military ballots and 1,802 provisional ballots in Franklin County, according to the Ohio Secretary of State.
The May 4, 2021 election had a turnout rate of 28% averaged across Franklin County, but less than 5% of voters in the area had an election to vote for. The largest election in that contest by far was in Upper Arlington, when 80% of the voters said they wanted to build a new community center.
In April 2016, when both the Democratic and Republican presidential primaries were contested, 41% of registered voters in Franklin County participated in that election.
Anna Lynn Winfrey covers regional/suburban trending stories for The Columbus Dispatch. She can be reached at awinfrey@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Franklin County’s primary turnout was the highest of the last decade
Reporting by Anna Lynn Winfrey, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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