Elections

In Cleveland Heights and University Heights, packed local election ballots—in which voters in each city elected a mayor, a number of city council representatives, and three school board members—failed to bring to the polls even half of eligible Heights voters.

According to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections (BOE) unofficial election results, with vote-by-mail ballots not yet fully reported, results in the various Heights races, as of Nov. 3, at noon, are as follows: 

In Cleveland Heights' two-candidate mayoral contest, voters elected Kahlil Seren with 6,790 votes (60.47%); Barbara Danforth received 4,438 votes (39.53%). A BOE report shows that there were 33,906 registered voters in Cleveland Heights, as of Nov. 1.

In University Heights, a city with 8,865 registered voters as of Nov. 1, incumbent Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan won re-election with 1,571 votes (48.50%).

In the Sept. 14 primary election, Cleveland Heights residents cast votes for one of three mayoral candidates. The top two primary finishers, Barbara Danforth and Kahlil Seren, will now face off in the race for Cleveland Heights mayor, in the general election on Nov. 2.

Voter turnout for Cleveland Heights' first mayoral primary election was low, with votes cast by fewer than 7,000 of the city's approximately 33,967 (as of Sept. 1) registered voters.

Mary Dunbar’s resignation from Cleveland Heights City Council on Aug. 16, effective immediately, created a vacancy for her unexpired term, which runs through Dec. 31, 2023.

After initially announcing that CH City Council members would appoint someone to the vacant seat, council later authorized a special election for the unexpired term, to be held on the same day as the general election.

On three evenings this summer, Cleveland Heights mayoral candidates met individually with a group of residents assembled by the Cleveland Heights Green Team. The meetings were planned as dialogues: candidates Barbara Danforth, Melody Hart and Kahlil Seren would each present their environmental platform. The sustainability professionals and environmental activists present would then ask questions and, hopefully, educate the candidates.

With the climate crisis well underway, the group wanted to hear that sustainability policies and actions would be a top city priority beginning in January 2022, regardless of who takes office. The Green Team advocates applying an “environmental overlay,” incorporating equity considerations, to all proposed policies and actions.

Cleveland Heights residents will go to the polls in three elections in the next four months, on Aug. 3, Sept. 14, and Nov. 2.

In the same period, University Heights voters will cast their ballots in two elections, on Aug. 3 and Nov. 2.

To help Heights voters make sense of this crowded local election season, the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland, Heights Chapter, compiled the following list of election dates and races:

TUESDAY, Aug. 3: Special Primary Election for Ohio’s 11th Congressional District in the U.S. House

In this partisan primary, voters will request either a Democratic or Republican ballot. The special election is the first of two in which voters will elect a replacement for Marcia Fudge.

[Update: The Thursday, Aug. 12, Cleveland Heights Mayoral Forum, sponsored by the Heights Chapter of the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland (LWVGC), will now be held exclusively online. The LWVGC announced the change in response to the increase in COVID-19 cases.

The forum will take place 7–9 p.m., as originally scheduled, and can be livestreamed via YouTube: https://youtu.be/KIvJolHFIKc, or the bitly URL: https://bit.ly/CHMayor2021Aug12. The forum will be recorded for later viewing.]

On Thursday, Aug. 12, 7–9 p.m., the Heights Chapter of the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland (LWVGC) will present a candidate forum in advance of the first-ever primary election for Cleveland Heights mayor. The forum will be held at the Cleveland Heights Community Center, 1 Monticello Boulevard.

LWVGC's co-sponsors for the free community event are FutureHeights and Heights Libraries.

The nonpartisan primary election for CH mayoral candidates is Sept. 14. Voters will choose from four candidates—Barbara Danforth, Melody Joy Hart, Josephine Moore, and Kahlil Seren. The two candidates who garner the most votes in the primary election will move on to the Nov. 2 general election ballot.

The Aug. 12 forum will provide an opportunity for voters to hear the four CH mayoral candidates discuss election issues. Voter registration will also be offered at the event.

In a June 22 press release, and on his campaign website, brennan4uh.com, University Heights Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan announced that he is seeking a second term.

“It is amazing how far we’ve come in less than four years,” Brennan stated in the press release, noting that he looked forward to taking his "positive campaign for continued change" to the residents of University Heights.

“For the first time in decades, we are building new homes," Brennan stated. "This year, we will break ground on a first-class townhome development on South Taylor Road. And what was once viewed as impossible is now within reach—the redevelopment of University Square.