All village voters living in precincts 440, 441, 442 and 443, and Miami Township residents living in precinct 456, will vote in Antioch University Midwest’s multipurpose room. Antioch University Midwest is located at 900 Dayton St., Yellow Springs. Polls will be open on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 6:30 a.m.–7:30 p.m. (News archive photo)
The 2024 Yellow Springs Election Guide
- Published: November 4, 2024
About this Guide
The 2024 Election Guide contains information about the local candidates and the local and county issues, including levies that will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot for Yellow Springs and Miami Township.
Polling Locations
All village voters living in precincts 440, 441, 442 and 443, and Miami Township residents living in precinct 456, will vote in Antioch University Midwest’s multipurpose room. Antioch University Midwest is located at 900 Dayton St., Yellow Springs.
Precinct 440 consists of most of the north side of town, and Precinct 441 includes the western part of Yellow Springs. Precinct 442 consists of much of the central areas of the village and downtown. Precinct 443 includes the south end of Yellow Springs. Precinct 456 includes the western portion of Miami Township that surrounds Yellow Springs.
Voters in Miami Township precinct 455, which includes the eastern part of the township, will vote at Cedar Land Event Center, located at 200 Parkview Lane in Cedarville.
Polls will be open on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 6:30 a.m.–7:30 p.m.
Rides Available
• The Senior Center is providing rides to polling locations for the elderly or disabled on a first-come, first-served basis. Rides may be requested for both early voting days and Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5. To request a ride to Xenia for early voting, call the center at 937-767-5751 three business days in advance. To request a ride on Election Day, call the Senior Center no later than Friday, Nov. 1.
• Greene CATS Public Transit will provide free rides systemwide on Election Day, Nov. 5, for Greene County residents.
Passengers on all Flex Routes will ride for free, providing them access to polling locations or other destinations along the way, including the Greene County Board of Elections office on Ledbetter Drive in Xenia. Riders who schedule rides to their polling location or any other destination will also ride for free.
Scheduled rides require advance reservation and are provided on a space available basis, so requests should be made as soon as possible by calling the Scheduling Office at 937-708-8322, option 1. Requests must be made by noon Friday, Nov. 1. The Scheduling Office is open Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–4 p.m.
For Flex Route schedules and maps, visit the Greene CATS website at http://www.greenecountyohio.gov/GreeneCATS.
Local issues
Issue 17 — YS Exempted School district, proposed tax levy (substitute)
This substitute levy combines and continues two emergency levies, which are set to expire in 2025. The levy will collect annual revenue of $1,975,000 for a period of 10 years.
The 9-mill levy represents an annual cost of $315 for every $100,000 of appraised residential property value (or $35,000 assessed value).
The substitute levy is not a new tax and will not collect additional school district revenue from local property owners, but rather continue to collect funds approved by voters in 2015 and 2017.
As the News has reported since 2023, substitute levies collect a fixed sum of revenue annually from existing school district property owners irrespective of rising property values. However, substitute levies have the potential to collect additional revenue for the school district when new properties are built without raising the tax rate for existing properties.
The News has also reported that district expenditures — 80% of which are allocated for teacher and staff salaries and benefits — will begin to outpace revenue beginning in fiscal year 2025 as costs continue to rise.
Like most Ohio school districts, the YS Exempted School District’s funding relies heavily on real estate tax revenue, which does not rise at the same rate as inflation, if it rises at all.
According to budget forecasts from the school district presented at school board meetings over the last year, without the passage of a substitute levy to replace the expiring emergency levies, the district will begin deficit-spending in 2025.
The school board would then need to adjust the district’s budget to avoid exhausting the district’s cash reserve by fiscal year 2028, likely delaying the renegotiation of district staff contracts, which is currently set for spring of 2025. Budget adjustments could also result in shortened contract terms for teachers and staff, depending on cash reserves.
Precinct 440 only — Local Liquor Option for a Particular Use at Business Location (By Petition) (Sunday Sales)
Yellow Springs Brewery, located at 305 N. Walnut St. in Millworks, has applied for a D-6 liquor permit, which will allow the business to sell “beer, wine, mixed beverages and spirituous liquor” on Sundays. The application must be approved by voters in the precinct in which the business is located.
County issue
Issue 18 — Greene County Park District, proposed tax levy (renewal)
This levy is a renewal of a five-year, 0.9-mill Greene County property tax estimated to collect $3,895,000 annually for the Greene County Park District. Services funded through the levy would include operations, maintenance, capital improvements, land acquisition, staffing, programming and events.
The levy represents an annual tax cost of about $21 for each $100,000 of appraised property value (or $35,000 assessed value). Renewing the levy would not constitute a new tax for Greene County residents.
State issue
Issue 1 — Constitutional amendment to create an appointed redistricting commission
This issue, a proposed constitutional amendment, would replace the Ohio Redistricting Commission — composed of the governor, auditor, secretary of state and four lawmakers — with a commission made up of Ohio citizens.
According to the proposed amendment, if Issue 1 is passed, the selection of a new Citizens Redistricting Commission will begin with the Ohio Ballot Board. The partisan members of that board will select 16 retired Ohio partisan judges — eight Republicans, eight Democrats. From that pool, the Republicans on the Ohio Ballot Board will select two Democrat judges, and the Democrat members of the board will select two Republican judges. These four judges will form the Bipartisan Screening Panel, or BSP, which will begin selecting citizen applicants — people who do not hold any public office in the state of Ohio — to become part of the new Citizens Redistricting Commission.
The BSP will ultimately select six citizen applicants — two Republicans, two Democrats, two Independents. Those six members of the Citizens Redistricting Commission will select the remaining nine members, for a total of 15 members — five Republicans, five Democrats and five Independents.
In addition to the creation of the commission, Issue 1 aims to “require fair and impartial districts by making it unconstitutional to draw voting districts that discriminate against or favor any political party or individual politician” and “require the commission to operate under an open and independent process,” according to the website of Citizens Not Politicians, the statewide nonpartisan grassroots group that has led the effort to get Issue 1 in front of voters this November.
Supporters of Issue 1 say gerrymandering legislation passed in 2015 and 2018 has largely failed, and that the proposed amendment would ultimately result in political districts that are more fair, because partisan politicians — who are motivated to favor their own parties, resulting in gerrymandering — would be removed from the redistricting process. They also laud the bipartisan selection process involved in creating the citizen-led redistricting commission.
Opponents of the proposed amendment say it would create a redistricting commission that, because it would be made up of citizens, would not be accountable to voters, and that the amendment would repeal anti-gerrymandering legislation from 2015 and 2018.
That second concern from opponents is reflected in the proposed amendment’s ballot language, which reads that Issue 1 would “repeal constitutional protections against gerrymandering approved … [in] 2015 and 2018” and “establish a new taxpayer-funded commission of appointees required to gerrymander the boundaries of state legislative and congressional districts to favor either of the two largest political parties in the state of Ohio, according to a formula based on partisan outcomes as the dominant factor.”
The proposed amendment does not support gerrymandering, and Issue 1’s supporters have decried the ballot language associated with the proposed amendment as misleading; Citizens Not Politicians sued over the ballot language. The Ohio Supreme Court voted 4–3 in September to make minor changes to the ballot language, but preserved the vast majority of the language as originally written. Following the ruling, the Ohio Supreme Court’s Democrat justices lambasted the decision.
Issue 1 is supported by the Ohio Democratic Party, the League of Women Voters, Ohio Conference NAACP, the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio and a number of labor unions, including the Ohio Association of Professional Firefighters and Communication Workers of America. Issue 1 is largely opposed by the Ohio Republican Party, including Gov. Mike DeWine.
Candidates
The following regional candidates are running unopposed:
• Judge of the Court of Appeals, 2nd District — Robert Hanseman (R)
• County Commissioner — Sarah Mays (R)
• County Commissioner — Tom Koogler (R)
• Prosecuting Attorney — David D. Hayes (R)
• Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas — AJ Williams (R)
• Sheriff — Scott J. Anger (R)
• County Recorder — Kraig A. Hagler (R)
• County Engineer — Stephanie Ann Goff (R)
• Coroner — Kevin L. Sharrett (R)
• Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Juvenile Division — Amy H. Lewis
Justices of the Supreme Court
• Michael P. Donnelly (D)
• Megan E. Shanahan (R)
• Melody J. Stewart (D)
• Jospeh T. Deters (R)
• Lisa Forbes (D)
• Daniel R. Hawkins (R)
State representative, 71st district
• Krista Magaw (D) — As Magaw told the News in June, her campaign is focused on “environmental issues, unfair funding of public schools, unfairly drawn legislative districts and lack of access to health care in rural areas.”
Magaw, who holds a master’s degree in public policy, had a long career with the nonprofit Tecumseh Land Trust, which she told the News has both taught her how to “maximize resources” and put her in touch with a lot of folks in rural areas of Greene and Clark counties.
Magaw said that, if elected, she would aim to help connect more small and rural communities within Greene, Clark and Clinton counties to available state and federal resources to address such issues as affordable housing and preschool programming.
In other publications, Magaw has publicly cited her belief in the importance of affordable childcare, tax credits for creating green energy jobs and investing state, federal and local resources into small business creation, particularly in rural areas, as paramount to economic stabilization in Ohio.
She also said she hopes to connect urban and rural areas of the counties within District 71 for “the best outcomes” in terms of strengthening communities.
“Our climate is changing and we need to be able to grow our food — we need to take care of these resources,” Magaw told the News. “And we could use some job growth, by the way, so let’s do it in the right places, and let’s do that housing development in the most cost-effective place as well.”
• Levi Dean (R) — Dean, son of longtime Republican incumbent Rep. Bill Dean, is a member of Xenia’s city council and the owner of Dean’s Plumbing.
According to a March interview with the Xenia Gazette, Dean’s platform is overall focused on limited government. As he told the news outlet: “I’m a small government guy.”
Pointing to initiatives on last year’s ballot — Issue 1, a constitutional amendment for reproductive rights; and Issue 2, a statute to legalize recreational marijuana, both of which passed at the polls — Dean said he believes the Ohio Constitution is “dangerously easy to change,” and aims to make it more difficult to change in the future.
Dean also told the Gazette he wants to remove the state income tax and “rework funding for local communities.”
State senator, 10th district
• Dan McGregor (D) — McGregor’s platform includes support for Ohio Issue 1 and a desire for “fair and balanced government,” according to his campaign website, as well as the continued protection of reproductive rights and reforms to the state’s current property-tax-based model of school funding.
• Kyle Koehler (R) — Koehler was a state representative for the 79th district in Ohio from 2015 through 2022. Koehler’s platform includes support for lower taxes and smaller government; enabling small businesses by lowering their tax burdens; and reforms to the state’s current property-tax-based model of funding public entities, as well as support for “pro-life” causes, gun rights and state’s rights.
Representative to Congress, 10th district
• Amy Cox (D) — Cox’s platform includes support for passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act to ensure fair representation in the House of Representatives; protection of women’s rights, civil rights and LGBTQ+ rights; universal healthcare; and increasing the minimum wage in the state.
• Michael Harbaugh (no party affiliation) — Harbaugh’s platform includes support for labor reform; voting against “Right to Work” legislation; unionizing efforts in corporate environments; universal healthcare; police reform; and increased benefits for veterans.
• Mike Turner (R, incumbent) — Turner’s platform includes support for maintaining a robust defense budget; increased benefits for veterans; creating jobs in the defense, manufacturing and technology industries; gun rights; and “pro-life” causes.
U.S. Senator
• Sherrod Brown (D, incumbent) — Brown’s platform emphasizes job creation, particularly in the technology industry, and worker training programs; addressing Ohio’s opioid crisis by supporting the bipartisan “FEND OFF Fentanyl Act”; increased benefits and support systems for veterans; support for reproductive rights; and greater control over the country’s southern border.
• Don Kissick (L) — Kissick’s platform emphasizes reducing the national debt by cutting federal spending; tax reform, including support for a flat tax rate; criminal justice reform, including repealing the Clinton Crime Bill of 1994 and legalizing cannabis at the national level; gun rights; ending corporate subsidies; and ending foreign aid.
• Bernie Moreno (R) — Moreno’s campaign emphasizes securing the nation’s borders; cutting government spending; curbing anti-growth regulations; support for Israel; gun rights; enacting term limits for members of Congress; ending “wokeness and cancel culture”; and supporting a ban on late-term abortions.
Candidates for President and Vice President of the United States*
• Libertarian — Chase Oliver, Mike ter Maat
• American Solidarity Party — Peter Sonski, Lauren Onak
• Green Party — Jill Stein, Anita Rios
• Republican — Donald J. Trump, JD Vance
• No party affiliation — Richard Duncan, Mitchell Preston Bupp
• Democratic — Kamala Harris, Tim Walz
*Candidates above appear in the order they are listed on the ballot. Because of the number of candidates, voters must scroll down at their voting kiosks to view the names of all candidates.
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