Government & Politics

Election 2020

2020 is looking to be a pivotal year in politics. But this year's elections are about much more than the race for the White House. And the coronavirus pandemic is proving to be a complicating factor. WKSU, our colleagues at public radio stations across Ohio and the region and at NPR will bring you coverage of all the races from the national to the local level.

Democrats In Ohio's Biggest Counties Flooding Boards With Ballot Requests

The Statehouse News Bureau | By Karen Kasler,

Karen Kasler

Published September 23, 2020 at 1:49 PM EDT

Absentee ballot requests have been pouring in to boards of elections around Ohio, and are approaching all time records. And in most counties, applications from Democratic affiliated voters are leading those from Republicans, in a state that President Trump won by eight points. That includes the state’s three largest counties, which haven’t always been Democratic strongholds.

A survey of absentee ballot requests from the state's most populous counties shows big numbers from voters affiliated with Democrats, as has been happening in most of the state.

Hamilton County is the most recent of the largest counties to turn blue, which it did in 2008. Just over half - 56% - of the all mailed-in absentee ballots in 2016 came from Democratic voters. So far in 2020, two thirds, or 69% of requests are from Democrats.

Franklin County has been won by Democrats since 1996. But in 2016, Republican voters were 56% of all absentee ballots turned in. This time, 76% percent of absentee requests are from Democrats.

The last time Cuyahoga County voted for a Republican for president was in 1972. Democrats made up 64% of all absentee ballots mailed in in 2016. So far in 2020, 80% of those turned in have been from Democrats. And nearly two thirds of all affiliated Democrats in Cuyahoga County have asked for absentee ballots.