Election wrap: Issue 3 passing only major surprise in Tuesday's election, many tight school levies

CLEVELAND - There were very few surprises after Tuesday’s General Election in northeast Ohio, other than the passing of a repeal for the nation's health care reform.

The big three state issues – 1, 2 and 3 – were the hot topics, with 2 being the hottest of the trio. Issue 2 was arguably the reason for what appeared to be a fairly strong turnout at polls across Ohio, but Issue 3 had more support from voters. The Associated Press called them all before 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Here is a breakdown of the three races (unofficial results with 99 percent precincts reporting):

ISSUE 1 (judge age limit)
Yes: 1,227, 505 (38%)
No: 2,005,185 (62%)

ISSUE 2 (collective bargaining reform)
Yes: 1,330,013 (39%)
No: 2,115,404 (61%)

ISSUE 3 (heath care reform)
Yes: 2,182,076 (66%)
No: 1,147,154 (34%)

After learning about Issue 2's passing, Gov. John Kasich said he's heard voters' voices , respects what they've said and will pay attention.

Voters passing Issue 3 might have come as a surprise to some people. It's a referendum to overturn President Obama's health care reform that was passed by Congress. A total of 17 states have passed legislation opposing elements of health care reform -- but Ohio was the first to pass it in a statewide election.

In Akron, Don Plusquellic easily secured his seventh term as Akron mayor. The Democratic incumbent received 70 percent of the votes and was challenged by Republican Jennifer Hensal.

School levies were very tight in many districts. Omsted Falls and Bedford issues came down to just a few votes. Akron's levy failed by a small margin , and Lorain schools now face fiscal emergency after its tax levy failed by about a 6-percent difference.

One interesting race to note is the charter amendment for East Cleveland regarding traffic cameras. Voters there turned down the charter amendement, which -- if passed -- would have essentially eliminated the use of the cameras. The amendment was worded as such so that if approved, officers would have been required to be present at the location of each traffic camera and personally issue a ticket at the time of a violation. The vote was 1,901 yes and 2,221 no.

The Alliance City Council Ward 2 race was extremely close --- only three votes separated the two candidates vying for the position.

Across the region, there were hundreds of other races we covered in your communities. Check them all out on our election results page .

On a quick national note, there was no change of party in governor races , with incumbent parties reigning over Tuesday's election in Kentucky and Mississippi.

Of course, all of these results are unofficial. Keep checking newsnet5.com as we follow up on the winners and losers.