Worley wins race for Brown County Municipal Court judge

There were 13,423 total ballots cast in Brown County for the Nov. 7 general election with two state issues and a number of local candidate races on the ballots. While some poll locations in Brown County were busy on election day, Brown County saw a 46.34 percent turnout with 28,966 registered voters in the county.

Ohio Issue One (a self-executing amendment relating to abortion and other reproductive decisions) and Issue Two (to commercialize, regulate, legalize, and tax the adult use of cannabis) won by hefty margins, over 55 percent of voters in favor of both issues. There were 56.62 percent voting in favor of Issue One and 43.38 percent against; while there were 56.97 percent voting in favor of Issue Two and 43.03 percent voting against recreational marijuana.

In the race for Village of Georgetown mayor, Kelly Cornette got the nod from voters, garnering 37.72 percent of the votes (453). Mike Mays received 380 votes and Jeremy Jones received 337 votes.

In the race for Brown County Municipal Court Judge, it was Courtney Worley garnering 8,679 votes (69.87 percent) to defeat Michele Harris (3,743 votes).

Winning the race for seats on Village of Georgetown council were Andrew Baughey, Kelley Campbell, and Ron Garbutt.

Travis Arnett won the race for mayor of Ripley.

Re-elected to seats on Georgetown Exempted Village School Board of Education were Greg Barlow and Raymond Virost, defeating Natalie Watson by a significant margin.

In a close race for Aberdeen mayor, it was William Eastwood defeating Jason Phillips 190 to 184 in unofficial results.

The vote to recall Georgetown Village Council member Nancy Montgomery passed with 57.88 percent (661) voting in favor of the recall and 42.12 percent (481)voting against the recall.

Brooklyn Barnhart will fill the open on Georgetown Village Council left by Montgomery’s recall.

Joe Howser easily won the race for mayor of Mt. Orab.

In the race for Hamersville mayor, Justin Jones defeated Shelley Spencer by a vote of 64-60.

Jody Edwards defeated Robert Aubry in the race for Fayetteville mayor.

Adams Bolender, Kristi Kress Wilhelmy, and Lowell Richey won the race for members of Eastern Local Schools Board of Education.

Winning the race for members of Western Brown Local School Board of Education were Peggy McKinney, Brian Rhodes, and Matt Corcoran.

Amber Dudley and Jeff Cluxton won the race for members of Ripley-Union-Lewis-Huntington Schools Board of Education, defeating John Paul Haitz and Jeff Wilson.

The Huntington Township Fire and EMS renewal tax levy (1 mill, 5 years) passed by a vote of 399-212 with over 65 percent voting in favor of the levy.

The Aberdeen Village renewal tax levy for police protection (5 mills, 5 years) passed by a vote of 235-139 with 62.83 percent voting in favor of the levy.

The Village of Fayetteville’s renewal tax levy for current expenses (3.5 mills, 5 years) failed by a narrow vote of 74-69 with 51.75 percent voting against the levy.

The Village of Higginsport additional tax levy for current expenses (5 mills, 5 years), passed by only two votes in unofficial results, 39 voting in favor of the levy and 37 against.

The Eastern Joint Fire and EMS District additional tax levy (1 mill, continuing) passed in Brown County by a vote of 865-728.

Also passing was the Lewis Township (unincorporated) renewal tax levy for fire and EMS (0.75 mill, 5 years), with 407 voting in favor and 270 against.

Pike Township’s unincorporated replacement tax levy for fire and EMS (2 mills, 5 years) passed by a vote of 389-313.

More local Nov. 7 election results can be found at https://www.boe.ohio.gov/brown/c/elecres/20231107results.pdf.

Election results are unofficial until the Secretary of State certifies the results of the election. The official canvass is completed approximately three weeks after the conclusion of the election, and results will be released following our office’s review of the county boards of elections’ official canvass reports.