Former Buckeye here, I agree with you. So many were positive their vote wouldn't change anything. No amount of encouragement could make them see the power of the large numbers they held.
I hope some type of voting reform can catch on. I think Star, Ranked or anything better, could cause enough curiosity in how it works to encourage more people to register.
I think you may have a Nebelung instead of standard issue! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebelung