Recent polls have shown the race for Ohio governor is very close. And that means the results could come down to provisional ballots – those cast by people who didn’t have proper ID, for instance – and to absentee ballots that hadn’t arrived at boards of elections by Tuesday. That means Tuesday night’s total might not be the final outcome.
Elections analyst Mike Dawson says if the total of early and Election Day votes is close, those provisional and outstanding absentee ballots could be critical.
“There will probably be 120,000 or 130,000 outstanding ballots that are going to get counted, and the campaigns will be looking to see what they can ascertain about them and how they might have voted.”
Only about 15 percent of outstanding absentee ballots will get returned on time and added in. But about 90 percent of provisional ballots are likely to be counted, and history suggests 60 percent of them will likely be from Democratic voters. But they won’t be counted till 10 days after Election Day.
