Early voting in Ohio ended this (Monday) afternoon, with some boards of elections around the state reporting record turnout for in-person voting. WKSU’s M.L. Schultze has more from the Stark County Board of Elections, where the total easily surpassed four years ago.
When the doors closed at 2, voters were still pulling into the crowded parking lot and disappointed to learn their only remaining voting option is Election Day.
More than 15,000 people cast their ballots early in person in Stark County, compared to less than 12,000 in 2012, when the early voting period was a week longer. Nearly all of the increase came from Republicans.
7.86 million Ohioans are registered to vote; 1.8 million absentee ballots have been cast; 661,549 voters voted absentee in-person.
Assistant Elections Director Jeanette Mullane says that may be a holdover from March, when the Republican presidential primary had come down to essentially a two-man race: Donald Trump and Gov. John Kasich.
“A number of Democratic voters switched party to cast ballots for other candidates or against other candidates. There also may be more Republicans coming out this time.”
The early in-person and by mail ballots will be counted first after the Election Day polls close at 7:30 p.m.
Here's more to know about day-of voting
- Poll hours are 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
- Best times to avoid lines are mid-to-late morning or mid-afternoon.
- If you're in line at 7:30p.m. but haven't yet gotten to vote, you'll get an in-line form that lets you cast your ballot after the official closing time.
- You can find your polling location, track your mail-in-ballot and find other voting details by clicking here.
- No one except a polling official is allowed to question you about your voting. Poll observers are not allowed to initiate contact with voters inside the polls nor can they record them by cell phone or other device.
