Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, Donald Trump’s fiercest Republican adversary in Congress, was defeated in a GOP primary Tuesday, falling to a rival backed by the former president in a contest that reinforced his grip on the party’s base.

The third-term congresswoman and her allies entered the day downbeat about her prospects, aware that Trump’s backing gave Harriet Hageman considerable lift in the state where he won by the largest margin during the 2020 campaign. Cheney was already looking ahead to a political future beyond Capitol Hill that could include a 2024 presidential run, potentially putting her on another collision course with Trump.

Cheney described her loss as the beginning of a new chapter in her political career as she addressed a small collection of supporters, including her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, on the edge of a vast field flanked by mountains and bales of hay.

“Our work is far from over,” she said Tuesday evening. Hinting at a presidential bid of her own, she later added, “I have said since Jan. 6 that I will do whatever it takes to ensure Donald Trump is never again anywhere near the Oval Office — and I mean it.”

The results — and the roughly 30-point margin — were a powerful reminder of the GOP’s rapid shift to the right. A party once dominated by national security-oriented, business-friendly conservatives like her father now belongs to Trump, animated by his populist appeal and, above all, his denial of defeat in the 2020 election.

Such lies, which have been roundly rejected by federal and state election officials along with Trump’s own attorney general and judges he appointed, transformed Cheney from an occasional critic of the former president to the clearest voice inside the GOP warning that he represents a threat to democratic norms. She's the top Republican on the House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters, an attack she referenced in nodding to her political future.

“I have said since Jan. 6 that I will do whatever it takes to ensure Donald Trump is never again anywhere near the Oval Office — and I mean it," she said.

Four hundred miles to the east of Cheney’s concession speech, festive Hageman supporters gathered at a sprawling outdoor rodeo and Western culture festival in Cheyenne, many wearing cowboy boots, hats and blue jeans.

“Obviously we’re all very grateful to President Trump, who recognizes that Wyoming has only one congressional representative and we have to make it count,” said Hageman, a ranching industry attorney who had finished third in a previous bid for governor.

Echoing Trump’s conspiracy theories, she falsely claimed the 2020 election was “rigged” as she courted his loyalists in the runup to the election.

Trump and his team celebrated Cheney’s loss, which may represent his biggest political victory in a primary season full of them. The former president called the results “a complete rebuke” of the Jan. 6 committee.

“Liz Cheney should be ashamed of herself, the way she acted, and her spiteful, sanctimonious words and actions towards others,” he wrote on his social media platform. “Now she can finally disappear into the depths of political oblivion where, I am sure, she will be much happier than she is right now. Thank you WYOMING!”

The news offered a welcome break from Trump's focus on his growing legal entanglements. Just eight days earlier, federal agents executing a search warrant recovered 11 sets of classified records from the former president’s Florida estate.

Cheney’s defeat would have been unthinkable just two years ago. The daughter of a former vice president, she hails from one of the most prominent political families in Wyoming. And in Washington, she was the No. 3 House Republican, an influential voice in GOP politics and policy with a sterling conservative voting record.

Cheney will now be forced from Congress at the end of her third and final term in January. She is not expected to leave Capitol Hill quietly.

She will continue in her leadership role on the congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack until it dissolves at the end of the year. And she is actively considering a 2024 White House bid — as a Republican or independent — having vowed to do everything in her power to fight Trump’s influence in her party.

With Cheney’s loss, Republicans who voted to impeach Trump are going extinct.

In all, seven Republican senators and 10 Republican House members backed Trump’s impeachment in the days after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress tried to certify President Joe Biden’s victory. Just two of those 10 House members have won their primaries this year. After two Senate retirements, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is the only such Senate Republican on this year’s ballot.

Cheney was forced to seek assistance from the state’s tiny Democratic minority in her bid to pull off a victory. But Democrats across America, major donors among them, took notice. She raised at least $15 million for her election, a stunning figure for a Wyoming political contest.

Voters responded to the interest in the race. With a little more than half of the vote counted, turnout ran about 50% higher than in the 2018 Republican primary for governor.

If Cheney does ultimately run for president — either as a Republican or an independent — don’t expect her to win Wyoming’s three electoral votes.

“We like Trump. She tried to impeach Trump,” Cheyenne voter Chester Barkell said of Cheney on Tuesday. “I don’t trust Liz Cheney.”

And in Jackson, Republican voter Dan Winder said he felt betrayed by his congresswoman.

“Over 70% of the state of Wyoming voted Republican in the last presidential election and she turned right around and voted against us,” said Winder, a hotel manager. “She was our representative, not her own.”

___

AP writers Thomas Peipert and Jill Colvin contributed.

Liz Cheney conceded defeat to rival Harriet Hageman in Wyoming's Republican primary on Tuesday.

Hageman's win would surely see former President Donald Trump gloat amid his continued campaign to remove his critics from the Republican Party persists.

While Cheney brought the fundraising prowess along with a higher profile as the public Jan. 6 hearings continued, Hageman, a lawyer in Wyoming's capital city Cheyenne, was boosted by a coveted endorsement from Trump, helping her beat the daughter of a former vice-president to win the state's House seat.

"We must be very clear-eyed about the threat we face, and about what is required to defeat it," Cheney said. "I have said since January six that I will do whatever it takes to ensure Donald Trump is never again anywhere near the oval office, and I mean it."

As Rep. Cheney braced for a loss to Trump-backed Hageman in the race for Wyoming's Congressional seat, the story seemed to focus heavily on the perceived consequences of leading public Jan. 6 hearings on former President Donald Trump, which is a story that her team optimistically brushed to the side.

A Cheney ally said, "This race is the first battle in a much larger and longer war that Liz is going to win because the future of the country depends on it,” Axios reported.

The election has been seen as a dramatic wrench in Cheney's larger plan after she was widely praised for her defiant spirit to do what she had considered an honorable task, attempting to hold former President Trump responsible for his actions on the day of the Jan. 6 riot on the U.S. Capitol involving his supporters.

Some Republicans have supported Cheney in her mission. Still, many in the GOP have not broken away from their party's support for Trump to join in a bipartisan effort to closely examine the timeline of events in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.

As the New York Times reported, surveys have shown that even though Cheney was able to fundraise far beyond Hageman and had spent much more on her campaign than her opponent, she stagnated well behind in the race.

Cheney told CBS News earlier on Tuesday, “Today, no matter what the outcome is, [it] is certainly the beginning of a battle that is going to continue.”

Cheney said after casting her vote, “We’re facing a moment where our democracy really is under attack and under threat. And those of us across the board — Republicans, Democrats and Independents who believe deeply in freedom and who care about the Constitution and the future of the country — have an obligation to put that above party.”

Hageman's campaign adviser Tim Murtaugh said they felt good about the election, "which is the culmination of nearly a year and almost 40,000 miles traveled within Wyoming," Axios reported.

The polls, which closed at 7 p.m. MT, 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday, had more than just Wyoming on edge in the hours leading up to the final results. Cheney awaited her fate from Jackson, a town on Wyoming's western side with popular ski resorts. Hageman and her team watched from the state capital of Cheyenne in the southeast corner near Colorado's border, where she would ultimately give her speech after the win.

Murtaugh pushed back on Cheney's message and her team's optimism about their path, criticizing their focus on Jan. 6.

"Liz Cheney made the race all about her and her war on President Trump, but it was always about the people of Wyoming, who haven’t had the representation they deserve for the last 18 months," Murtaugh said.

Donald Trump responded to the win on his Truth Social platform, writing, "This is a wonderful result for America and a complete rebuke of the Unselect Committee of political Hacks and Thugs. Liz Cheney should be ashamed of herself, the way she acted, and her spiteful, sanctimonious words and actions towards others."

In another race in Alaska, Senator Lisa Murkowski, who was one of seven Republicans to vote to convict former President Trump of inciting an insurrection, was in a re-election battle of her own against Kelly Tshibaka, who is a former official in Alaska endorsed by Trump.

New Hampshire Republicans on Tuesday are selecting their nominee to take on Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan in what could be one of the nation's most competitive Senate races.

The Granite State, as well as Rhode Island and Delaware, are holding their primaries Tuesday — wrapping up 2022's primary calendar and setting the final pieces of the playing field for the eight-week sprint to November's midterm elections.

Here are three takeaways from the results so far:

Trump's style trumps his substance in New Hampshire

Mimicking Trump's brash style and parroting his election denialism again proved more potent in a Republican primary than embracing the policy substance of his tenure in the White House.

That's the lesson from the Republican primary in New Hampshire's 1st District, where 25-year-old political newcomer Karoline Leavitt, a former Trump aide who more closely mimicked the brand of politics that has defined Trump's orbit of political acolytes, defeated Matt Mowers, another former Trump administration official but one who was more cautious on issues like the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from the former president.

Mowers fully embraced aspects of Trump's tenure. His website was full of positions that defined the former President, and Mowers touted the fact that Trump endorsed him in his failed attempt to win the seat in 2020.

Rhetorically and stylistically, however, the two were dramatically different.

Where Mowers had "confidence in New Hampshire elections," Leavitt said she believed "the 2020 election was undoubtedly stolen from President Trump." Where Mowers suggested hearings to determine whether President Joe Biden should be impeached, Leavitt unequivocally said the President should be impeached. And where Mowers said he "supports science" when asked about the newly rolled out coronavirus vaccine, Leavitt said it was "none of your business."

Mowers' restraint effectively opened the door for someone like Leavitt to win over Republican primary voters in New Hampshire, many of them who still support the former President.

As polls showed Leavitt rising in the closing days, outside groups like the House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund and Defending Main Street spent millions on ads looking to help Mowers beat back the challenge from the right. But the money was largely for not -- and now Republicans are saddled with a more complicated nominee in a race against Rep. Chris Pappas, one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the country.

Leavitt is one of the first Gen Z candidates to ever win a primary.

Video below: Outside groups spend millions to try to sway NH primary contests

Rhode Island picks candidates in competitive House race

The field is set for what's expected to be one of New England's most competitive congressional races this fall, after Rhode Island state treasurer Seth Magaziner won the 2nd District's Democratic primary, CNN projected.

He is now set to face Republican Allan Fung, the Cranston mayor, in the district where long-time Rep. Jim Langevin is retiring. Langevin, a Democrat, has won his races without serious competition since 2001, and President Joe Biden won there by 14 percentage points in 2020. But Republicans believe the seat is winnable.

Fung was the Republican candidate for governor in 2014 and 2018, losing twice to former Gov. Gina Raimondo but performing well in the district, which covers the western half of the state.

Magaziner defeated Sarah Morgenthau, who was the director of the Peace Corps Response under former President Barack Obama; David Segal, who once served in the state legislature and ran a failed congressional race in 2010; and Joy Fox, who worked as communications director for Langevin and Raimondo.

McKee hangs on in Rhode Island

One of the least popular governors in the country, Rhode Island's Dan McKee faced four primary challengers as he seeks his first full, elected term in office.

But McKee, who took over as governor last year when Raimondo left the job to join the Biden administration, is no stranger to tough primaries -- he almost lost his bid for renomination as lieutenant governor in 2018.

In the end, though, despite being weighed down by a federal investigation into the controversial awarding of a state contract to a firm with ties to an old ally -- an episode in which McKee has denied any wrongdoing -- he emerged from the packed field, likely benefiting from a split among the anti-incumbent vote.

Both of his closest rivals, former CVS executive Helena Foulkes and Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, ran as reformers with pledges to clean up government. Foulkes, who promised not to run for reelection if she didn't revitalize Rhode Island schools, was endorsed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The race was a bust for progressive favorite Matt Brown, the Bernie Sanders-endorsed former secretary of state, who trailed the leaders four years after losing a primary challenge to Raimondo.

More states could soon join the growing list of places where recreational marijuana is legal.

Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota will vote in the midterms on whether to amend their constitutions to legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 years and older.

Maryland and Missouri are tying recreational marijuana to calls for social justice. The amendments would grant relief to individuals convicted of certain marijuana crimes.

The ballot measures in Arkansas, North Dakota and South Dakota just focus on legalizing the industry without taking into account prior convictions.

Legalizing recreational marijuana has become more popular over the years. According to a 2021 poll by the Pew Research Center, 60% of Americans said recreational and medical marijuana should be legal.

"From 2000 to 2019, the share of Americans saying marijuana should be legal more than doubled,' the Pew Research Center stated.

Currently, recreational marijuana is legal in 19 states and Washington, D.C.

Colorado was the first state to legalize marijuana. Voters in 2012 passed Amendment 64, which amended the state's constitution to legalize cannabis. Other states followed by either passing ballot initiatives or going through their legislatures.

Marijuana is still illegal at the federal level. However, President Joe Biden, this year, softened the government's stance on marijuana. He pardoned all prior federal offenses of simple possession of marijuana.

"No one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana," Biden stated in October.

The president also ordered the attorney general and the secretary of Health and Human Services to review how marijuana is scheduled under federal law.

It's currently classified as a Schedule I drug. It's in the same category as heroin and LSD.

As the U.S. midterm elections approach, voters say they feel heightened concern about impediments to voting, including intimidation at the polls in some places.

A Reuters-Ipsos poll found that of registered voters surveyed, 43% said they felt some concern about threats or violence against voters while voting in-person.

The poll found that around two in every five U.S. voter worried about intimidation at the polls.

In Arizona, which has become a key battleground, officials have asked the federal government to look into a case of voter intimidation.

People in that state were filmed and followed while casting ballots. The complaint says self-appointed monitors called voters "mules," referencing a conspiracy theory related to former President Donald Trump's unfounded claims that he was defeated in the 2020 presidential election because of widespread fraud.

RELATED: Film and book said to play large role in election conspiracy theories

Experts say if a voter shows up at the polls and finds their eligibility is in question, they should stand their ground calmly. If a voter feels they have been targeted by an erroneous challenge, and know they are qualified to vote and have not yet voted, they should calmly insist.

Jonathan Diaz, the senior legal counsel for voting rights at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center told CNN, “A state cannot just throw out your ballot without notifying you that your vote has been challenged and giving you the chance to prove that you are who you say you are,” he said.

Kathy Boockvar, a former top election official for Pennsylvania told Reuters, "Our country is based on democracy. We should be excited about Election Day."

The ACLU says people with disabilities have faced some of the greatest barriers to voting.

In 2021, the ACLU said there were over 400 anti-voter measures introduced in various U.S. states, citing research from the Brennan Center for Justice.

Those measures included restricting access to absentee voting, removing Election Day registration, and making it harder to vote in-person, during early voting. There have also been reports of authorities making it a crime to assist voters with disabilities.

There are resources for voters who have difficulties or encounter issues.

A hotline run by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law can advise voters on their rights: 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683).

Another run by NALEO Educational Fund has English and Spanish speakers available to help: 888-VE-Y-VOTA (888-839-8682).

The Arab American Institute has a hotline that has Arabic and English speakers at: 844-YALLA-US (844-925-5287).

Another hotline run by APIA Vote and Asian Americans Advancing Justice-AAJC is speakers of Mandarin, Cantonese, Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog, and English: 888-API-VOTE (888-274-8683).

The Brennan Center says the Freedom to Vote Act is a package of voting reforms that ensure a minimum national standard for voting access for Americans.

More information on the Freedom to Vote Act can be found at the Brennan Center for Justice website.

CINCINNATI — The race for Ohio's 1st Congressional District is coming down to the wire as Nov. 8's election day looms closer.

Ohio's 1st Congressional District is made up of the eastern majority of Hamilton County as well as Warren County.

Republican incumbent Steve Chabot is going head-to-head with Democratic candidate Greg Landsman.

RELATED | Your Ohio Midterm Election Guide

The issues listed below are the topics prioritized by Chabot and Landsman on their respective campaign websites.

Here's a breakdown of each candidate, as well as the issues they've campaigned on:

Backgrounds

Steve Chabot

Steve Chabot is serving Ohio's 1st Congressional District in his 12th term. From Cincinnati, he previously served as a city councilman and Hamilton County commissioner for nearly five years before being elected to Congress in 1994.

Chabot serves on the Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee on Small Business and the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the U.S. House.

Greg Landsman

Greg Landsman is a former public school teacher in his fifth year as a Cincinnati councilman. Landsman was born in Greater Cincinnati, and after earning a Master's Degree he went on to work for former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland. As a councilman, Landsman established City Hall's first-ever Office of Ethics and Good Government and the Balanced Development Scorecard.

Issues

Steve Chabot

Revitalizing the Economy: Chabot wants federal agencies to look for alternatives to ease the burden on small businesses so they can grow and create jobs

Health Care: Chabot supports the repeal of Obamacare and replacing it with market-based reforms that will give families more options at a lower cost. The legislation he supports to replace Obamacare is also guaranteed to cover those with pre-existing conditions.

Energy: He believes America needs to increase domestic oil production, and Chabot is a strong proponent of the Keystone XL pipeline. He has also introduced legislation to stop price-gouging and anti-competitive behavior by OPEC nations by subjecting them to antitrust laws and prohibiting them from withholding supply with the intent of creating a shortage or raising prices.

Government Spending: Chabot is a supporter of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

Protecting Social Security: Chabot is a longtime supporter of the Social Security Preservation Act, which says that money paid into Social Security can only be used for Social Security and no other government programs.

Veterans: He vows to be a strong supporter of legislation and funding efforts to ensure veterans have access to medical care, education and financial services.

School Security: Chabot help pass legislation that reauthorized the COPS Secure Our Schools grant program for 10 years. The legislation more than doubles the funding available for important security measures, including metal detectors, improvements in identifying and treating mental health issues, the installation of improved communications systems and security training for school employees and students.

Cybersecurity: As part of the House Small Business Committee, Chabot has focused on steps small businesses can take to prevent and combat cyberattacks. Alongside Ranking Member Nydia Velasquez, Chabot introduced bipartisan legislation to help give small businesses the tools and resources they need to defend themselves against cyberattacks, both foreign and domestic.

Greg Landsman

Lowering Costs for Families: Landsman has called for the suspension of the state and federal gas taxes, as well as for lowering the costs of prescription drugs. He also promises to hold big corporations accountable for price gouging.

Jobs & the Economy: He supports the bipartisan COMPETES Act that works to bring the supply chain back home. Landsman also supports strengthening worker protections, including making it harder for employers to bust unions before they have a chance to organize and update labor laws. He also supports raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour and to expand high-quality and affordable childcare.

Reproductive Health & Rights: Landsman believes that it's not the place of the government to dictate the decisions that Americans make about their own bodies. He opposes any effort to undermine privacy between women and their doctors, and he supports the codification of Roe v. Wade. Landsman also wants to address the racial discrepancies in maternal mortality.

Education: Landsman promises to fight for more equitable access to education. He also plans to vote to lessen the burden of college on students and their parents.

Infrastructure: Landsman supports the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and plans continued investment in projects to improve crumbling roads and bridges as well as expanding digital infrastructure to ensure broadband internet for everyone.

Public Safety: Landsman supports improving public safety by building trust between communities and public safety officers and police.

Gun Safety: Landsman has been named a Gun Sense candidate by Moms Demand Action, and he supports requiring universal background checks on all gun sales. He also supports banning the sale of assault weapons.

Voting Rights: Landsman supports the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act, which would restore and strengthen the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He also supports expanding voter registration and access, strengthening ethics requirements, outlawing voter purges, increasing election security and establishing independent redistricting nationwide.

Health Care: He promises to push for lower healthcare premiums and work to eliminate surprise billing. Landsman also supports bipartisan legislation that holds Big Pharma accountable and allowing Medicaid to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices.

Veterans: Landsman promises to fight to make sure veterans suffering from toxic exposure in Iraq and Afghanistan get the support and medical attention they deserve. He also said it's "inexcusable" that any veteran lacks access to health care for physical and mental health.

Environment: Landsman is endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters. He promises to fight to protect access to clean air and water, and he'll hold polluters accountable for damages that disproportionately impact marginalized communities.

Equality: If elected to Congress, Landsman will support the Equality Act to ensure that no one can be discriminated against due to sexual orientation or gender. He also wants to codify marriage equality into federal law.

Foreign Policy: As a member of Congress, Landsman will advocate for Israel's right to self-determination and work to build bridges between the U.S., Israel and other regions to achieve sustainable peace in the region. He also supports the Abraham Accords effort started by former President Trump and continued by President Biden. Lastly, Landsman supports delivering military and humanitarian aid to those in Ukraine.

More election guides
Looking at Ohio's Senate race between JD Vance, Tim Ryan
A guide to Ohio's governor race between Mike DeWine, Nan Whaley

WASHINGTON — It's a busy week in politics with 36 gubernatorial races, 35 Senate contests and 435 House seats up for grabs across the country.

So with just a few hours left in the campaign — what advantages and disadvantages are both political parties facing?

GOP ADVANTAGES

All signs point to a historic turnout for a midterm election and all signs point to a good night for Republicans, especially in the House of Representatives.

One reason? Recent history.

Presidents tend to have rough midterm elections during their first term in office.

George Herbert Walker Bush and his Republican party didn't win in 1990.

Bill Clinton's Democrats lost big in '94.

So did the Democrats in 2010 when Obama was president.

Former President Donald Trump lost the House '18.

George W. Bush is the only recent president not to suffer a setback, but 9/11 happened and his approval rating was above 60%.

Another advantage for Republicans is the economy and inflation.

While you can debate what role Democrats actually played in creating inflation, the reality is voters in nearly every poll care about this issue more than any other.

Republicans maintain the edge in most polling when it comes to who Americans think can fix it.

DEMOCRATS STILL HAVE ADVANTAGES

However, don't count out the Democratic party, especially when it comes to control of the Senate.

Democrats have a friendlier map this cycle.

Of these nine swing states — Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Wisconsin — Democrats currently control 5 of them and all their candidates have a real shot at reelection.

If Democrats just win what they already control, they'll keep control of the Senate.

Democrats could also even flip a red state or two on election night — like Pennsylvania.

Another reason is Democrats have a slight advantage when it comes to candidate experience.

Republican Senate candidates in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Hampshire are all running what experts think are solid campaigns, but not one of them has actually held elected office before.

The final advantage for Democrats — and in turn disadvantage for Republicans — is an unprecedented concern about democracy.

This is the first major federal election since the January 6th attack at the Capitol and it is still unclear if Republicans will be penalized for their alleged role on that day.

One thing is clear, the White House will have to work with whichever party controls Congress after Tuesday's election.

If Republicans take back just one political chamber it will create new political debates in this country over everything from the IRS to the border.

INDIANA — ABC News projects Todd Young has won reelection.

Young defeated Democratic challenger Thomas McDermott Jr., the longest-serving mayor in the history of Hammond, Ind., to serve his second term in the U.S. Senate. With 68% of precincts reporting, Young has 59% of the vote.

The Republican incumbent previously served as a representative for Indiana's 9th congressional district before he was elected to the Senate in 2018. He succeeded Dan Coats.

Young was considered a clear front-runner throughout the race, mostly ignoring McDermott's campaign. Like many of his incumbent colleagues, Young had a large fundraising advantage over McDermott. He spent most of his campaign talking about inflation and rising gas prices.

His campaign raised about $14.9 million in contributions through Oct. 19, according to Federal Election Commission filings, while McDermott’s campaign had collected $1.27 million.

He did not get an endorsement from former President Donald Trump. He voted to acquit Trump in his Senate impeachment trials, though he did vote to uphold President Joe Biden's election win.

Young is on the Senate committees on finance; foreign relations; commerce, science and transportation; and small business and entrepreneurship. He was in the Marine Corps before attending law school and starting his political career.

There are several additional elections for state legislators, mayors and council members in Indiana. Hoosiers in the Tri-State are also electing Indiana's representative for the 6th congressional district. Greg Pence, the older brother of former Vice President Mike Pence, has represented the district since 2018.

FIND THE LATEST MIDTERM ELECTION RESULTS FROM OHIO, KENTUCKY AND INDIANA HERE.

Voters in four states approved ballot measures that will change their state constitutions to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for crime, while those in a fifth state rejected the move.

The measures approved Tuesday curtail the use of prison labor in Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont.

In Louisiana, a former slave-holding state, voters rejected a ballot question known as Amendment 7 that asked whether they supported a constitutional amendment to prohibit the use of involuntary servitude in the criminal justice system. Ahead of Election Day, state Rep. Edmond Jordan, a Democrat from Baton Rouge and author of the amendment, reportedly asked voters to reject the measure because its wording on the ballot differed from his proposal.

Jordan did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning.

The four approved initiatives won't force immediate changes in the states’ prisons, but they may invite legal challenges over the practice of coercing prisoners to work under threat of sanctions or loss of privileges if they refuse the work.

The results were celebrated among anti-slavery advocates, including those pushing to further amend the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits enslavement and involuntary servitude except as a form of criminal punishment. More than 150 years after enslaved Africans and their descendants were released from bondage through ratification of the 13th Amendment, the slavery exception continues to permit the exploitation of labor by incarcerated individuals.

“Voters in Oregon and other states have come together across party lines to say that this stain must be removed from state constitutions,” Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat, told The Associated Press.

“Now, it is time for all Americans to come together and say that it must be struck from the U.S. Constitution. There should be no exceptions to a ban on slavery,” he said.

Coinciding with the creation of the Juneteenth federal holiday last year, Merkley and Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Georgia, reintroduced legislation to revise the 13th Amendment to end the slavery exception. If it wins approval in Congress, the constitutional amendment must be ratified by three-fourths of U.S. states.

After Tuesday’s vote, more than a dozen states still have constitutions that include language permitting slavery and involuntary servitude for prisoners. Several other states have no constitutional language for or against the use of forced prison labor.

Voters in Colorado became the first to approve removal of slavery exception language from the state constitution in 2018, followed by Nebraska and Utah two years later.

The movement to end or regulate the use of prison labor has existed for decades, since the time when former Confederate states sought ways to maintain the use of chattel slavery after the Civil War. Southern states used racist laws, referred to as “Black codes,” to criminalize, imprison and re-enslave Black Americans over benign behavior.

Today, prison labor is a multibillion-dollar practice. By comparison, workers can make pennies on the dollar. And prisoners who refuse to work can be denied privileges such as phone calls and visits with family, as well as face solitary confinement, all punishments that are eerily similar to those used during antebellum slavery.

“The 13th Amendment didn’t actually abolish slavery — what it did was make it invisible,” Bianca Tylek, an anti-slavery advocate and the executive director of the criminal justice advocacy group Worth Rises, told the AP in an interview ahead of Election Day.

She said passage of the ballot initiatives, especially in red states like Alabama, “is a great signal for what’s possible at the federal level.”

“There is a big opportunity here, in this moment,” Tylek said.

CINCINNATI — Cincinnati leaders announced the city's proposed budget for the next two years Friday morning, with a focus on public safety spending.

This comes after Cincinnati's police and fire chiefs told city council in the last few months that the department is facing staffing shortages. CPD Chief Theresa Theetgedescribed her department's situation as "dire."

The proposed budget totals $1.59 billion and includes funding for three new police recruit classes totaling 160 possible positions and four new fire recruit classes, totaling 200 possible positions.

Last year, each department only had two recruitment classes each.

"There has been years in which we're trying to catch up from lost recruitment classes in both police and fire. Couple that with a lack of interest in the industry all together, we are essentially like drinking from a fire hose," said Cincinnati City Manager Sheryl Long.

The proposed budget lays out three recruit classes — two that will graduate in 2024 and one that graduates in 2025. Each of those classes are intended to have roughly 50 recruits each. The budget allocated for each recruit class is roughly $2 million, with the full two-year total for all three classes running $6,259,940.

The fire department's budget is a little more complicated: It highlights the four budgeted recruit classes, two set to graduate in 2024 and two in 2025. Those are each going to run roughly $1.4 million. But the bigger financial impact comes from overtime hours. For each of those recruit classes, the city has also allocated each recruitment class $550,000 in just overtime hours.

In total, that would mean the fire department's recruitment classes are budgeted to cost around $3,857,460 in 2024 and $4,087,350 in 2025.

City leaders said the goal is to get back up to the full number of officers CPD and the fire department are budgeted to have and keep up with retirements and other forms of employee attrition.

"I think they're taking a half step when they need to take four or five," Fraternal Order of Police President Dan Hils said.

He said more police recruit classes are good but he thinks bigger pay increases are key to attracting more candidates. In the new budget proposal, the city is aiming to address that. The new budget proposes increasing operating funds for CPD by $2,428,410 "due to wage and benefits increases and increases in expert services." However, that increase, the budget says, is offset by the transfer of full-time officers to other bureaus.

The proposed budget also allocates $615,000 to expand the Alternate Response to Crisis unit (ARC), which was a pilot program this year.

"For 3,000 hours mental health professionals, not police, responded to calls," Long said.

This discussion comes as the city faces a deficit.

"Our expenses frankly are growing more quickly than our revenues," said Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval. "We are living in a very difficult and frankly uncertain time. The ground is moving under our feet and so what this budget tries to do is act responsibly in anticipation of that dire fiscal situation that we're walking into next year."

City leaders said with fewer people commuting into the city to work after the COVID-19 pandemic, the city is collecting less income tax. They plan to use American Rescue Plan Act dollars to make up for it in Fiscal Year 2024, which starts in July.

By Fiscal Year 2025, though, the city could be facing a nearly $9.5 million operating budget deficit. Plus, city leaders say there's about $400 million in deferred maintenance.

"Which is why this council and I have been so aggressive at looking for new streams of revenue to make us. less reliant on our earnings tax revenue," Pureval said.

The city increased the property tax rate for 2024, plus Pureval said the possible sale of the Cincinnati Southern Railway to Norfolk Southern could be a potential revenue stream.

There will be a public comment meeting about the proposed budget at City Hall on June 5 and 5:30 pm.

MEMPHIS, Ten. — Ranked choice voting gives voters the chance to vote for more than one candidate in an election. This system is becoming more popular for many elections.

“I think a lot of voters realize that they have limited choices, that sometimes it's a Coke versus Pepsi kind of thing, and they like more choice,” said Steven Mulroy, a professor of law at the University of Memphis.

Mulroy has studied ranked choice voting for decades and said more people are supporting this system because it’s more representative of who voters want to elect.

“Ranked choice voting is a voting system where rather than just voting for one person only, the voter is given the option if they want, to rank their preferences,” said Mulroy.

This may sound confusing, but here’s how it works: You rank candidates in order of preference. If a candidate receives more than half of the first choices, that candidate wins, just like in any other election.

If there is no majority winner after counting first choices, the race is decided by an "instant runoff."

The candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and voters who picked that candidate as number 1 will have their votes count for their next choice.

This process continues until two candidates remain, and the majority candidate wins.

Voters do not have to rank candidates if they don’t want to; they have the choice to vote for one person.

This system is being more widely used across the country. Maine and Alaska used it in the last presidential election, and nearly two dozen other states use ranked choice voting in local elections.

“It's used in both red states and blue states,” said Mulroy. “They don't tend to favor Democrats or Republicans. They tend to favor who has majority support. So, in a Democratic majority district, it'll tend to favor Democrats, and in a republican majority district. It'll tend to favor Republicans.

It also eliminates runoff elections—which usually have low voter turnout and cost counties more money

“You're one and done. You make sure you have a majority winner, but you do it all at once without the trouble and the expense of a separate runoff election,” said Mulroy.

From what he’s seen, it’s helped make the campaign season less negative. “It tends to elect candidates with consensus candidates with broad based support. It has not depressed minority representation. In fact, minority representation has increased where it has been used. Another thing is that ranked choice voting tends to result in more women being elected,” said Mulroy.

In Mulroy’s hometown of Memphis, the community voted to enact ranked choice voting three separate times. But, state and local election officials pushed back…and the system has never been implemented, now, in Tennessee, the state legislature is working to ban ranked choice voting altogether.

“A lot of times the opposition that you hear comes from incumbents. Because ranked choice voting makes elections more competitive. It levels the playing field between incumbents and challengers, and incumbents don't like that,” said Mulroy.

Memphis teacher Erika Sugarmon tried to challenge the incumbent party in her local city council election. “They call me the crusader, you know, because I'm always fighting for teachers, students and parents,” said Erika.

Voters in her district had approved ranked choice voting, but the system was never implemented.

She said, if it had been, the election would’ve gone differently. “Looking at the figures and looking at our backgrounds and looking at the way the voters voted, I would have won,” said Sugarmon.

She’s now part of a lawsuit to get ranked choice voting into her district, a move she says will make elections more representative of the community.

“It's not a Democratic issue or Republican issue. It's an issue about the voting system and working for all people, and we all want the same thing. We all want fair elections,” said Sugarmon.

Not everyone is in support of ranked choice voting. Opponents of this voting method say it can be confusing to voters, it can give too much power to smaller parties, and changing voting systems could be expensive. But, both sides hope voters educate themselves, no matter their view.

Lawmakers in a handful of states are seeking greater protections for election officials amid growing concerns for their safety after they were targeted by threats of violence following the 2020 presidential election.

Widespread threats against those who oversee elections, from secretaries of state to county clerks and even poll workers, soared after former President Donald Trump and his allies spread false claims about the outcome of the presidential election.

The threats and harassment are not limited to prominent figures but also have been directed at lower-level staff at county election offices. Much of the legislation would create or boost penalties for threats against election workers.

In Vermont, as Reuters reports, lawmakers have proposed multiple bills that could make it easier to prosecute those who make threats towards election officials. In Maine, lawmakers have proposed legislation that would make penalties for such threats harsher. In Washington, lawmakers in that state voted to make threats of this kind towards election workers a felony.

Reuters documented more than 850 "threats and hostile messages" directed towards U.S. election officials and workers, the outlet reported. More than 100 of those incidents met the federal requirement for criminal prosecution.

Vermont's Democratic Secretary of State Jim Condos told the Associated Press, “Nationally, we are seeing longtime experienced election leaders and their staffs leaving their positions for other work because they’ve had it, this is it, this has crossed the line.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Helping veterans with toxic lung conditions, creating more computer chips to cut through supply chain issues and passing long-sought climate change and voting legislation all remain part of President Joe Biden's agenda this week.

However, it's not the issues that may be the president's biggest obstacle going forward: It may be time and the hotly-contested midterm election later this year.

PUSH BY PRESIDENT

The president attempted to hit the reset button last week during his press conference at the White House.

"A job not yet finished," Biden said.

Modest election changes are possible. New COVID-19 relief spending is also still on the table. Funding for the environment and pre-K education programs also remain negotiable.

Biden hinted at enacting some of his agenda through executive orders if Congress doesn't act.

TIME CONCERNS

Biden may only be done with his first year in office, but there is a growing sense in Washington that he doesn't have all the time in the world to get his ambitions accomplished.

It's an election year, and polls suggest Democrats may lose control of at least one chamber of Congress.

"I don't believe the polls," Biden said last Wednesday.

While the president may not believe the polling, he can't dismiss that at least 28 Democrats in the House are retiring.

While some are doing so to run for a different office, it is a number that's higher than usual and a sign Democrats may have some tough political fights this year.

REDISTRICTING BATTLES

It's not just retirements by well-known members of Congress impacting the president. Democrats are facing difficult redistricting fights too.

What is redistricting? It is the once-in-a-decade process of redrawing congressional maps following the U.S. Census to account for population changes. The process could mean millions across the country will be voting for new representatives this year.

In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is pushing his party to draw maps that favor the GOP more than what had already been proposed.

In Kentucky, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed a redistricting map that heavily favors Republicans. However, the state legislature overruled him.

In Tennessee, Republicans are advancing plans to make it easier to win near Nashville. The same is true in Kansas, where the GOP hopes to fair better in races near Kansas City.

All of that puts pressure on Biden to get something done soon. However, getting something done in a divided Washington isn't easy.

CINCINNATI — Hopeful candidates were dotting their i's and crossing their t's Wednesday in a final push to appear on the ballot as Mayor John Cranley's potential successor before Thursday's deadline to qualify for the race.

As of Wednesday afternoon, six candidates appeared to have the necessary 500 valid signatures from registered city voters to make it on the ballot for the nonpartisan May 4 primary. The top two vote-getters in that contest will go on to the general election in November:

• Gavi Begtrup (Mount Lookout)
• David Mann (Clifton)
• Herman J. Napoli (West Price Hill)
• Raffel Prophett (Avondale)
• Aftab Pureval (Clifton)
• Cecil Thomas (Avondale)

Cranley, who cannot run for the office again due to term limits, was first elected mayor in 2013 and then re-elected in 2017.

The makeup of the group so far is somewhat unusual, said political scientist and University of Cincinnati professor David Niven.

"This race includes not only heavy hitters, but heavy hitters that are aligned with each other," Niven told WCPO, specifically referring to Mann, Pureval and Thomas, all of whom are well-known Democrats in Hamilton County politics currently or recently serving terms in different city-, county- or state-level offices.

This means their respective support bases typically overlap.

"This is going to be a very difficult challenge, when candidates are coming from the same wing of the party," Niven said. "It's hard to go into groups and say 'Endorse me; back me,' because those groups are going to think, 'We have other friends in this race.' It's very difficult."

Another prominent Democrat who had hinted at a run -- City Councilman Chris Seelbach -- said Wednesday he would not pursue the ticket.

Niven said he believes the strong showing by established Democrats is a direct result of Democratic city councilman and previous front-runner for mayor P.G. Sittenfeld's indictment late last year on federal public corruption charges. His case is still unfolding in U.S. District Court and, consequently, he is temporarily suspended from Council. Sittenfeld's attorneys have filed a motion to dismiss the case; that decision is still pending.

"The race was almost over before it started and then had to restart in the last few weeks," Niven said.

The challenge now is earning voters' attention.

"This is just a tough race, and to get people to pay attention... It's not that people will reject these candidates; it's that they won't hear enough about them to give them great thought," Niven said.

At least one other Democrat with name-recognition, Kelli Prather, told WCPO Wednesday afternoon that she planned to file her signatures with the board of elections Thursday. Prather previously ran an unsuccessful bid for the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners in 2020 and for U.S. Senate in 2016.

City Councilman Wendell Young indicated in December that he was considering a mayoral run and even picked up paperwork to gather signatures. WCPO reached out to Young Wednesday afternoon but did not immediately hear back.

Prospective candidates have until 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 18, to submit their signed petitions.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky House on Friday wrapped up its quick work on legislation that would make early voting a permanent feature in the state’s elections.

The bill, introduced this week, passed the House on a 93-4 vote, sending it to the Senate. It would allow three days of no-excuse, early in-person voting — including a Saturday — ahead of Election Day.

Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams said he hopes the strong bipartisan support in the House will add to the bill’s momentum when it reaches the Senate. Adams describes it as the state’s most significant election-reform legislation in nearly three decades.

Another key part of the bill would allow counties to establish vote centers, where any voter in the county may vote regardless of precinct.

The measure continues some special features allowed in last year’s election because of the COVID-19 pandemic — most notably the early in-person voting.

Last year, pandemic-related rules for Kentucky’s general election included multiple weeks of early in-person voting to prevent a crush of Election Day voting.

Without new legislation, Kentucky’s election laws will revert to the pre-pandemic rules.

But the House-passed bill wouldn’t continue a temporary, pandemic-related accommodation that allowed widespread mail-in absentee balloting in the 2020 election.

The legislation is House Bill 574.

CINCINNATI — The race to take over outgoing Hamilton County Auditor Dusty Rhodes' seat has begun.

Ohio State Rep. Brigid Kelly, D-Cincinnati, announced her bid for the county office Tuesday morning in a Facebook post.

Rhodes, who is wrapping up his eighth term in the office, announced last week he would not seek re-election.

Kelly has served in the Ohio House of Representatives since 2017 representing the 31st district, which includes more than 10 Cincinnati neighborhoods as well as Amberley Village, Norwood, Silverton, St. Bernard and Columbia Township. Prior to serving in public office, she worked for a local food workers union.

Democrats on Friday seized on new voting restrictions in Georgia to focus attention on the fight to overhaul federal election laws, setting up a slow-building standoff that carries echoes of the civil rights battles of a half-century ago.

In fiery speeches, pointed statements and tweets, party leaders decried the law signed Thursday by the state's Republican governor as specifically aimed at suppressing Black and Latino votes and a threat to democracy. President Joe Biden released an extended statement, calling the law an attack on "good conscience" that denies the right to vote for "countless" Americans.

"This is Jim Crow in the 21st Century," Biden said, referring to laws of the last century that enforced heavy-handed racial segregation in the South.

"It must end. We have a moral and Constitutional obligation to act," he said. He told reporters the Georgia law is an "atrocity" and the Justice Department is looking into it.

Georgia's Republican governor, Brian Kemp, lashed back, accusing Biden of attempting to "destroy the sanctity and security of the ballot box" by supporting what the governor sees as federal intrusion into state responsibilities.

Behind the chorus of outrage, Democrats are also wrestling with the limits on their power in Washington, as long as Senate filibuster rules allow Republicans to block major legislation, including H.R. 1, a sweeping elections bill now pending in the Senate.

Biden and his party are seeking to build and sustain momentum in the realm of public opinion — hoping to nationalize what has so far been a Republican-led state-by-state movement to curb access to the ballot — while they begin a slow, plodding legislative process. Allies meanwhile plan to fight the Georgia law, and others, in court.

"What's happening in Georgia right now, underscores the importance and the urgency," said Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., in an interview Friday.

"This is about what is fundamental to our identity as an American people — one person, one vote."

The emerging brawl over the politics and policy of voting access is swelling like nothing seen in recent years, harkening back to what many Americans may assume are well-settled rules ensuring equal access to the ballot.

But as Republican-controlled state legislatures from Georgia to Iowa to Arizona are taking dramatic action to limit early voting and force new voter ID requirements, the debate in Washington threatens to exacerbate the nation's cavernous political divides in the early days of the Biden presidency, just as the Democratic president vows to unite the country.

It is expected to be a months-long slog in the narrowly divided Congress, specifically the Senate, where Democrats are, for now, unwilling to muscle their slim majority to change filibuster rules, despite the party's urgent calls for action.

Instead, the Democrats are prepared to legislate the old-fashioned way, unspooling arguments in lengthy Senate debates, spilling out of the committee hearing rooms and onto the Senate floor, and forcing opponents to go on the record as standing in the way — much as South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond was positioned when he filibustered the Civil Rights Act of the last century.

"They're literally squeezing the arteries of the lifeblood of America," Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., the son of civil rights activists, said in an interview. "They are choking what makes us distinct and unique on the planet Earth."

Booker would not, however, openly call for the end of the filibuster, a parliamentary tool requiring at least 60 votes to advance Senate legislation in some cases.

On Friday, the president revived his call on Congress to enact H.R. 1, an elections overhaul that would confront the Republican restrictions. He called as well for the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore some aspects of a landmark law struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013.

But Biden, like a shrinking number of other powerful Democrats, remains unwilling to embrace the so-called "nuclear option" — ending the filibuster — for fear it would further divide the country.

Meantime, the political fight was intensifying in Georgia, where years of voter registration drives in Black communities and steady population changes helped Biden win the once solidly red state.

Just as Kemp and several white state lawmakers celebrated the signing of the state's new voting law on Thursday, state police officers handcuffed and forcibly removed state Rep. Park Cannon, a Black woman, after she knocked on the door of the governor's private office.

Cannon was charged with obstruction of law enforcement and disruption of the General Assembly, both felonies. She was released from jail late Thursday. Donald Trump, the former president who promoted false claims of election fraud, congratulated the Georgia governor and state leaders on the new law.

As Congress hunkers down for the fight, a groundswell of outside efforts is spending millions to try to influence the debate and apply political pressure on voters, corporations and lawmakers in both parties.

A $30 million advertising campaign is coming from the liberal group End Citizens United, working with former Attorney General Eric Holder's anti-gerrymandering group, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, trying to persuade Democratic and Republican senators considered to be swing votes.

Other efforts are also underway, including from former first lady Michelle Obama, via the nonpartisan celebrity "When We All Vote" organization.

Civil rights leader Al Sharpton said Friday that he's working with religious leaders in West Virginia and Arizona to press the home-state Democratic senators. He's well aware that this fight may go on for a while.

"I'm prepared to go on this fight for however long it takes," he said. "Look at how long it took us to get the right to vote."

Sharpton also suggested that Black voters have been energized by the debate, which could lead to a surge in participation in next year's midterm elections despite the new voting requirements enacted by Republicans.

"By them being so blatant, I think that they play into our national strategy," Sharpton said. "We just need the Democrats in the Senate to stand up."

The Georgia law requires a photo ID in order to vote absentee by mail, cuts the time people have to request an absentee ballot and limits where ballot drop boxes can be placed and when they can be accessed. The bill was a watered-down version of some of the proposals considered by the GOP-led General Assembly.

H.R. 1 is vast, and its Senate counterpart would confront the new Georgia law by expanding voting by mail and early voting, both popular during the pandemic. It would more broadly open ballot access by creating automatic voter registration nationwide, allowing former felons to vote and limiting the way states can remove registered voters from the rolls. It also addresses campaign financing and ethics laws.

Still, Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison warned his party would take Republicans to court "and fight about it there." A lawsuit filed late Thursday in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta by three groups — New Georgia Project, Black Voters Matter Fund and Rise — challenged key provisions of the new Georgia law and said they violated the Voting Rights Act.

But Harrison also acknowledged that the filibuster was an "an obstacle" for the national Democrats' efforts to overturn the Republican-backed changes.

"I am delivering the message to everybody, particularly on my side of the aisle, that folks right now are very, very upset about where things are going," Harrison told The AP.

The chairman continued, "I'm going to do everything in my power, with every breath in my body, with every drop of blood that flows through my veins, to make sure that we fight back from this."

"We're not going back to Jim Crow 2.0," he said. "So we've got to do whatever we need to do to make sure that doesn't happen."

___

Peoples reported from New York. Mascaro reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Bill Barrow, Josh Boak and Aamer Madhani contributed.

NORWOOD, Ohio — Off-year elections typically have low voter turnout, and primary elections -- like Tuesday's Ohio primary -- often can have even lower numbers. But a high-profile mayoral race and a controversial ballot measure in Cincinnati might combine to buck that trend.

For Cincinnati voter Carolyn Jones, ballot Issue 3 and the Cincinnati mayoral primary were enough to motivate her to the polls. Six candidates are vying for two spots on November's general mayoral ballot, and Issue 3 would amend the city's charter to require at least $50 million in locally sourced funding be allocated to affordable housing projects.

Both races come after a tumultuous year marked with scandal at City Hall.

"That was a very big one for me," Jones told WCPO. "The mayor, most definitely. I've seen all these guys in action. I like a little bit about each one of them, but you need to think about who will serve your interest."

ISSUE 3: Pros and cons of affordable housing charter amendment
MAYOR'S RACE: Meet the 6 candidates for Cincinnati's top job

It was the same for Nicole Baah, who said, "The mayoral race was really interesting...knowing the mayor has such a big impact on that and really trying to participate on that."

According to Hamilton County Board of Elections director Sherry Poland, early voting turnout was up, both in person and by mail, compared to the last Cincinnati mayoral primary race in 2017. As of Sunday night, 3,185 people voted in person across the county, and in the city of Cincinnati, 5,072 people had returned absentee ballots.

"I think we're going to be higher than the last one in 2017," Poland said. "The highest turnout ever in a Cincinnati primary election was 20%, and there's a chance we could hit that."

The record-holding year was the 2005 mayoral primary, when about 44,000 people voted. In 2017, about 24,000 voters cast ballots and in the cycle before that, 2013, half that many turned out.

On Monday, Poland said it was still too early to tell how turnout this year will compare to years past.

"It's really premature because a majority of the voters in Hamilton County do choose to vote on Election Day. So I think that's where we'll see our biggest numbers come," she said.

For Jones, even an off-year, local primary is worth the effort it takes to cast her ballot.

"The idea that if you want to be part of what's going on and part of our government, we have to start with the basics, and these are the basics," she said.

Day-of voting opens for Ohio's primary at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, and polls will remain open until 7:30 p.m.

CINCINNATI — Two anti-corruption proposals passed handily Tuesday on Cincinnati's primary ballot, each scoring approval by a margin of more than three-to-one.

Brought before voters after a string of corruption scandals at City Hall, both ballot measures -- Issues 1 and 2 -- were procedural and sought to change the ways City Council can deal with a member who has come under indictment, along with installing other ethics requirements of its members.

IN-DEPTH: What exactly are Issue 1 and Issue 2 about?

With all precincts reporting, the unofficial count showed 76.8% of voters approved Issue 1, while 23.3% opposed it. The measure will mean, once indicted, a member can no longer change their pre-designated replacement, should they be suspended. It also allows the city's attorney to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the case on the city's behalf.

Issue 2 took a slightly wider margin at the polls, with 77.4% for and 22.6% against. It also takes a slightly sharper tack by allowing members of City Council to suspend a member brought under indictment, which currently requires a lengthy court process.

The measure also requires council members to undergo ethics training and reiterates Issue 1's provision that a member under indictment cannot change their successor if they are suspended.

Between February 2020 and last month, four sitting members of City Council came under indictment in either county or federal court. Federal agents arrested former member Tamaya Dennard and now-suspended members Jeff Pastor and P.G. Sittenfeld over the course of last year, accusing them of soliciting or taking bribes in exchange for votes or favor on development deals.

A grand jury indicted Councilman Wendell Young last month on felony charges, accusing him of tampering with evidence related to the "Gang of Five" texting scandal of 2018.

Previous reporting by WCPO 9 News reporter Mariel Carbone contributed to this story.