... the people of Ohio struggling to hold independent vote (3,6)
I believe the answer is:
hoi polloi
'the people' is the definition.
(Greek term for the common people)
'ohio struggling to hold independent vote' is the wordplay.
'struggling' indicates anagramming the letters (the letters struggle or wriggle into a new form).
'to hold' is an insertion indicator.
'independent' becomes 'i'.
'vote' becomes 'poll' (polling is a kind of voting).
'ohio' anagrammed gives 'hooi'.
'i'+'poll'='ipoll'
'hooi' placed around 'ipoll' is 'HOI-POLLOI'.
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for hoi polloi that I've seen before include "vulgar rabble" , "commoners" , "The common people generally" , "Riff-raff" , "The unwashed masses!" .)