Cincinnati voters demonstrated their approval of the job their City Council is doing by turning out Tuesday to return all nine incumbents to Council as they made selections from a field of 25 candidates for the seats.

Hamilton County voters said no to two new taxes, defeating a proposed sales tax increase that would have funded a new jail and crime prevention and rehabilitation programs and a property tax increase that would have provided about $63 million per year for five years to cover an emergency fiscal crisis at Cincinnati Public Schools. Voters, however, did approve tax increases to mental health programs and senior services programs.

Three candidates in a field of four were elected to the CPS Board of Education.

African American county judges - Ted Berry, Nadine Allen, and Fanon Rucker (who ran unopposed after being appointed to a District 1 judgeship) - were returned to the Hamilton County Municipal Court, with Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor Dwane Mallory taking the District 1 Hamilton County Municipal Court judgeship away from Judge John Burlew in a tight race, winning 10,674 to 9,499.

Thirty-four percent of the registered voters in Hamilton County went to the polls Tuesday.

In the City Council election, Councilmember John Cranley ran at the top of the council members to regain their seats, repeating his popularity as the top voter recipient two years ago. Cranley drew 27,856 votes, but was closely followed by former Mayor Roxanne Qualls, who had 27,836 votes. Qualls was appointed to the council by fellow Charterite and former Vice Mayor Jim Tarbell when Tarbell stepped down from his council seat earlier in the year.

Rejoining Cranley and Qualls on council are Vice Mayor David Crowley, (25,682 votes), Cecil Thomas (22,117 votes), Chris Bortz (21,979 votes), Leslie Ghiz (19,817 votes), Laketa Cole (20,398 votes), Jeff Berding (19,178 votes), and Chris Monzel (18,470 votes).

The results for other candidates, who did not win a council seat, are: Charlie Winburn (17,359 votes), Minette Cooper (15,287), Sam Malone (13,740), Melanie Bates (12,331), Pat Fischer (12,022), Greg Harris (11,641) John Eby (10,944), Brian Garry (10,736), Joan Kaup (7,019), Justin Jeffre (6,167), Andre Harper (5,606), Mitch Painter (4,296), Steve Pavlish (3,419), Michael Earl Patton (2,584), and George Zamary (1,852).

The heavily fought Issue 27, which was a proposal by the Hamilton County Commission to increase the county's sales tax to construct a new jail and offender prevention and treatment programs, was defeated 92,755 to 69,946. The proposal was placed on the ballot following a petition drive led by the Cincinnati NAACP Branch, which opposed the jail expansion to house more African Americans on minor charges. County Commission President Todd Portune said the commission would discuss how to approach the overcrowded jail situation in future meetings, following the tax defeat Tuesday.

The property tax increase - Issue 22 - proposed by the Cincinnati Public Schools Board of Education went down in a vote of 31,813 to 24,206.

Three new members elected to the Board of Education Tuesday will have to work with other board members and the administration to address an estimated $70 million deficit the district is facing down the road. The three board members elected Tuesday are Michael Flannery (33,552 votes), Eve Bolton (31,003 votes), and A. Chris Nelms (23,288 votes).

Board member Rick Williams received 15,556 votes for fourth position in the race and will not be returning to the board.

In addition to the Mallory-Burlew race in the Municipal Court contests, the results in other Hamilton County Municipal Court races are:

District 2: Judge Nadine Allen defeated challenger Rosaline Florez by a vote of 17,809 to 13,872.

District 3: Judge Ted Berry defeated challenger Kendal M. Coes by a vote of 15,273 to 5,294.

District 5: Judge Heather Russell defeated Greg Cohen 15,181 to 8,329.

District 6: Richard Bernat defeated Lawrence Lindgren, 16,658 to 8,108.