Southwest Ohio voter turnout was strong, but not unusual Tuesday, election officials said Wednesday.

        Clermont County had a 25.2 percent turnout, when 23 to 26 percent was predicted, said Kathy Jones, deputy director of the Clermont County Board of Elections in Batavia.

        “That's typical for this kind of election,” she said. “Everything went smoothly.”

        She said 29,774 people cast ballots from among 114,890 registered voters.

        Hamilton County also experienced a strong but not unexpected turnout, said Lisa Cave, a clerk at the Hamilton County Board of Elections in Cincinnati.

        She said 36.2 percent of the county's registered voters voted Tuesday. The board did not make a prediction this year on how many people would vote, she said.

        “One thing that wasn't typical about this election was the direct election of the mayor,” she said. “That could have raised the vote total a little bit. But in general, I don't think that voter turnout has been very good lately.”

        She said that 210,713 people voted in Hamilton County, from among 582,774 registered voters.

        Cincinnati's mayoral race, with newcomer Courtis Fuller challenging incumbent Charlie Luken, probably attracted some people who might not have voted otherwise.

        Mr. Luken won with 47,755 votes to Mr. Fuller's 38,494 in unofficial returns.

        In Lebanon, Warren County elections officials could not be reached Wednesday. The board office closed at noon and earlier telephone calls were not returned.

        But its Internet site showed a similar pattern: 31,720 people voted from a pool of 100,029 registered voters, for 31.7 percent.

        The county had important local races, including the Waynesville mayoral contest that saw incumbent Ernie Lawson returned, as well as money issues and levies. The countywide mental health services levy passed, 19,237 to 11,766 votes.

        In Butler County, voting was steady all day. Out of 206,056 registered voters, 70,001 cast ballots Tuesday, for 34 percent.

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