UNION COUNTY, OHIO, ABSTRACTS OF VOTES (1820-1959)   

The Ohio General Assembly made accommodations for elections shortly after statehood.  On April 15, 1803, the legislature passed “an act to regulate elections.”  The act provided all the rules and regulations governing the conduct of elections in Ohio down to the “construction of the [ballot] boxes.”  The act provided that after “canvassing the votes” the judges were to “enclose and seal one of the poll books, under cover” to the clerk of courts “within five days from the close of the poll”. The clerk of courts was instructed “on the sixth day after the day of [the] election” to take two justices of the peace, serving as assistants, and open the returns and create an abstract of the votes.  The abstract contained a summary report of the election, showing the elective offices, candidates, vote totals in each precinct and the grand total of votes for every office, candidate and issue.  

On April 30, 1891, the Ohio legislature created county boards of elections.  The election duties previously assigned to the clerk of courts were reassigned to the board of elections.  The local board of elections, like their predecessors in the clerk of courts office, were instructed to create an abstract of the votes after the election.  Currently, the board of elections is instructed under Ohio Revised Code (O.R.C.) section 3501.11 under “board duties” to “receive the returns of elections, canvass the returns, make abstracts of them, and transmit those abstracts to the proper authorities”.  This provision regarding abstracts is further detailed out in O.R.C. section 3505.33.  This section requires the board of elections to retain a copy of the abstract of votes and the Ohio Secretary of State has subsequently determined in directives to the board of elections that these records are to be retained permanently.  

  In examining these records it is important to note the following:  

•   The abstracts are only from county-wide elections for county, state and federal offices. Township and municipal election results have not been saved, except in a few rare instances.  
•   From 1820 to 1929 the only issues that appear in the abstracts are state-wide and county-wide issues. From 1930 to 1959 local bond, tax levy and other issues appear in the abstracts.  
•   The abstracts are only from special and general elections. Primary election results were not saved. The only results from primary elections are on issues only.  
•   From 1820 to 1885 county office holder, state office holder and congressional representative elections were held on the second Tuesday in October, while elections for President of the United States were held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.  
•   Starting with the 1886 general election, all general elections in Ohio have been held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.  
•   Terms of office were adjusted for county office holders in 1905 and three year terms were changed to four year terms eliminating odd year general elections for county offices.  
•   In 1913, the United States Constitution was amended to allow for the direct election of United States Senators. Prior to 1913, Senators were select by the state legislature. The first state-wide Senate race occurred in 1914 in Ohio.  
•   Finally, it should be noted that various county and state offices have been created and eliminated during the 1820 to 1959 time period.  

The abstracts contained below, are NOT originals, but transcribed versions.  The originals from the Union County Clerk of Courts’ Office are stored at the Union County Records Center and Archives.  Abstracts from 1890 thru 1956 were inadvertently destroyed before the Ohio Public Records Act came into being and before the directives on maintaining them permanently were issued from the Ohio Secretary of State.  The ones contained below are substitutes compiled from the Ohio Secretary of State’s records.