While Tuesday’s Ohio primary election featured a local race that attracted a lot of attention, when all of the ballots were counted, there were very few real surprises.

Despite the interest in the Republican primary for the 96th House seat, the voter turnout in Jefferson County was 22.95 percent, not too far from the 20 percent or so that had been expected and right in line with the state’s turnout, which was 22.56 percent, according to the secretary of state’s office.

Wintersville’s Ron Ferguson, the incumbent, won that contested race, defeating former state Sen. Frank Hoagland of Adena. Ferguson advanced after earning 62.7 percent of the votes, 7,003 to 4,165.

That percentage held pretty steady through the district, which includes all of Jefferson and Monroe counties and a portion of Belmont County. Ferguson performed a little bit higher in Jefferson and Monroe counties — 64.15 percent and 63.9 percent, respectively — and a little bit lower in Belmont County — 59.7 percent.

Ferguson will face Democrat Charrie Foglio of Toronto, who was unopposed for her party’s nomination and collected 4,351 votes.

With no contested races for any of the offices in Jefferson County, the attention of voters in Steubenville was directed to the 0.7 percent and 0.3 percent income taxes that provide money to fund street improvements and equipment, parks and recreation, capital improvements, the general fund, helps with paying the salaries of municipal employees and generates money for street improvements.

Voters in the city renewed both of those issues for five years by solid margins — 75.4 percent of the voters were favor of the 0.7 percent issue, while 74. 5 percent of the voters said yes to the 0.3 percent issue.

Each of the six property tax renewals scattered throughout the county also received favorable votes.

There are five offices at the county level that are up for election this year, but, as it stands now, only one will be contested in the Nov. 3 general election. That’s the Jan. 1 seat with the Jefferson County commissioners. Incumbent Republican Eric Timmons of Steubenville was unopposed in Tuesday’s primary, collecting 4,842 votes. He will face Democrat Brent Nemeth of Rayland, who was unopposed in his primary and received 2,538 votes.

Republican county Auditor E.J. Conn of Bloomingdale earned 4,895 votes in his re-election bid — no Democrat filed for the post.

Democrat incumbent Common Pleas Judge Michelle Miller of Rayland was unopposed in her primary for the Jan. 1 slot, earning 2,672 votes, and Democrat Michael Bednar was unopposed for the Feb. 9 spot, earning 2,652 votes. No Republicans filed for either spot.

Neither party had a candidate run for the probate and juvenile judge’s spot. Incumbent Frank Noble has filed as an independent for the November election.

There was no surprise in the Republican primary for the seat in the 6th Congressional District — incumbent Michael Rulli of Salem collected an easy win, earning 47,717 votes to the 14,883 that went to Jullie Kelley of Sherrodsville. He won with 76.2 percent of the vote. He carried Jefferson County 4,529 to 1,621, which gave him 78.4 percent of the vote here.

He earned 86.5 percent of the votes in Columbiana County and 86.3 percent of the votes in Mahoning County. His lowest percentage was 64.1, and that came in Wayne County.

Rulli will meet Elizabeth Kirtley of New Philadelphia, who emerged as the winner in a crowded Democratic primary.

Kirtley received 12,264 votes, which allowed her to fend off five challengers to win her party’s nomination. Adrian Vitus of Poland finished second with 8,587 votes, while Sean Connolly of Canfield was third with 8,025 votes. Steubenville’s Charlie DiPalma was sixth, with 2,787 votes. There were 38,921 votes cast on the Democratic side.

Ohio’s 6th Congressional District looks a little different than it has in the past. with the state’s redistricting that is now in effect, the district includes all of Jefferson, Harrison, Belmont, Columbiana and Tuscarawas counties; most of Mahoning and Stark counties; and portions of Wayne and Holmes counties.

Statewide, primary winners for the top spots on the November ticket were pretty much known before Tuesday’s vote.

Amy Acton and David Pepper were unoppposed for governor on the Democratic side, while Vivek Ramaswamy and Michael McColley earned 673,902 votes to win the Republican nomination by defeating Casey Putsch and Kimberly Georgeton, who had 143,257 votes

There also were no surprises in the primary race for Senate. Incumbent Jon Husted was unopposed on the Republican side, while Sherrod Brown 708,005 votes to easily fend off a challenge from Ron Kincaid, who finished with 83,350 votes on the Democratic side

Those two races — for governor and for Senate — will make Ohio one of the most closely watched states in the run-up to the November election. They figure to be among the most competitive in the nation, as the Republicans will look to keep control of the Senate and an important statehouse, while the Democrats will be looking to flip one –or both — of those positions.

It also will be interesting to see what influence the Libertarian Party will have on that race — Don Kissick and James Mills secured that nomination for governor, while William Redpath won the Libertarian nomination for the Senate seat.

Other counties surrounding Jefferson had similar voter turnouts, with the exception of Belmont, which saw 27. 2 percent of its registered voters come to the polls, a number that was at least partly influenced by a very competitive Republican battle for the party’s county commissioner nomination.

Turnout in Carroll County was 23.3 percent, while the rate in Columbiana County was 20.5 percent and the rate in Harrison County was 19.6 percent.

Everything that happened Tuesday should set up an interesting general election in November. There won’t be too many contested local races on that ballot, but it’s likely there will be local issues and levies that will generate interest. And, there will be plenty of choices to make at the state and congressional levels.

There will be lots talk of along the way, but none of that will really matter if you aren’t registered to vote, and the deadline to complete that process before the Nov. 3 election will be Oct. 5.

Campaigns for the November election are already underway — make sure you are able to participate in the process.

(Gallabrese, a resident of Steubenville, is senior writer of the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times)