As is the case with any off-year election, elections officials expect a low voter turnout Tuesday in Hamilton County. At the Downtown Cincinnati Public Library polling site, Kaia Cole has observed as much while campaigning for her niece from the Vine Street sidewalk.
“I’m out here representing my niece, Laketa Cole, who’s running for City Council,” Kaia Cole told CityBeat proudly.
Turnout was a steady trickle when CityBeat spoke with Kaia Cole around 2:30 p.m. She was passing out pamphlets with info about the Charter Committee candidate.
“A lot of people said they’re gonna vote for her, so I think she has a great chance of winning again this time,” she said.
Laketa Cole previously served on council from 2003 through 2011.
“She’s learned a lot,” Kaia Cole said. “So she’ll be a lot better this time.”
Also stumping from the sidewalk was Stephan Pryor, one of 26 candidates running to fill nine City Council seats. Pryor was the only candidate actively campaigning outside the polling location when CityBeat visited Tuesday afternoon. Despite the apparent modest turnout, Pryor told CityBeat he thinks the Downtown polling locations will see higher than average turnout.
“Because all the stuff was going on in the community,” Pryor said. “The council that’s in the seats right now not doing anything. They’re not coming up with a plan to actually stop some of this shooting.”
This year’s election quickly became a lightning rod for public safety discussions after a string of highly-publicized crimes in Over-the-Rhine and Downtown, including a viral brawl that launched Cincinnati into the national spotlight. Crime rates in the city have been a mixed bag in recent years: Downtown homicides are down but violent crime overall is up 12.8% compared to last year. The sharpest rise is in aggravated assaults, which jumped 54.5% from 22 to 34 cases, according to the city’s year-to-year data. The perception of violent crime in the city’s core neighborhoods became a major point of contention in the mayor’s race, leading the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) to endorse Republican Cory Bowman, Vice President JD Vance’s half-brother. Democratic Mayor Aftab Pureval made an apparent move to regain voters’ trust on public safety by joining the City Manager in placing CPD Chief Teresa Theetge on administrative leave pending an investigation into her “effectiveness of leadership.”
“I remember when Mayor Aftab Pureval, when he first became mayor, he went on Good Morning America‘s show and he said it’s not the law enforcement’s fault of gun violence,” Pryor said. “He said that. He said it’s poverty. He said all this, but why did he get rid of Chief Theetge? These liars in suits. That’s what I call them, liars in suits.”
Katie Foley, a Downtown resident of four years, turned out to vote on Tuesday, but said she wasn’t motivated by the conversations about safety.
“That wasn’t something that I voted based on, really,” Foley said. “I feel like people say that it’s, like, not safe around here, but…I used to live in Cheviot. I don’t feel like any more safe or less safe being here than being in Cheviot.”
Foley said she voted for incumbent candidate Pureval, but she said other ballot items will have a more direct impact on public safety – like the Cincinnati Public School and the Hamilton County Parks levies.
“I think things that would prevent crime would more be like making sure that people have access to a good job, or you have access to housing,” she said. “So I’m voting for more things to increase money for education or increase money for parks.”
Hamilton County polls close at 7:30 p.m.