MANSFIELD — More Richland County in-person voters thus far are Republicans, while Democrats have an edge in absentee ballots, according to the local Board of Elections.
Total votes in both categories continue to surge well ahead of numbers seen in the past two presidential election cycles, according to numbers released Tuesday by Richland County Board of Elections Director Paulette Hankins.
Hankins said 10,565 local residents have voted in-person already, compared to 3,828 in 2016 and 3,158 in 2012 at this point, two weeks before Election Day.
Of those voting in-person, Hankins said 4,075 were registered Republicans, 2,166 were registered Democrats and 4,324 had no party affiliation.
She said 16,167 absentee ballots have been requested — 4,222 Democrats, 3,877 Republican and 8,068 non-partisan.
Hankins said 9,845 absentee ballots have already been returned — 3,183 Democrats, 2,427 Republicans and 4,235 non-partisan.
In 2016, there were 9,516 total absentee ballots requested and 8,904 returned.
Hankins, whose office has seen a steady stream of voters since early voting began Oct. 6, said poll workers have all been trained and the office is ready for Election Day on Nov. 3.
“We still have two days of ‘station training,’ where they visit seven different stations, or tables, and review each facet of processing voters,” Hankins said.
“Those classes are Wednesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. The workers come anytime between those hours and stay for about two hours to complete their final phase of training,” she said.
“We have most of the positions filled at this time, but we still get between two and 10 cancellations a day, so we’ll be replacing those as a vacancy occurs,” she said.
“We have placed one extra worker at each polling place to assist with sanitization and to monitor the social distancing,” Hankins said.
Around the state, Ohioans continue to vote early in record numbers – with 1.1 million Ohioans already casting their ballot for the 2020 general election, according to Secretary of State Frank LaRose.
“That’s 119 percent the rate seen in 2016. Nearly triple the number of Ohioans are voting early in-person compared to the same time in 2016,” LaRose said.
Additional analysis of the data also indicates that absentee ballots are being returned at a rate that drastically outpaces that of 2016, he said.
LaRose said 675,231 absentee ballots have already been returned to county boards of elections. In 2016, that number was essentially half that with just 344,314 absentee ballots returned.
“The doubling of the number of returned absentee ballots relative to 2016 is a very strong indicator that the mail is working quickly and Ohioans are easily able to cast their ballots,” LaRose said.
“Absentee ballot requests increased by 275,135 to a total of 2,745,403 requests received by county boards of elections statewide. That means more than one out of three registered Ohioans have requested the opportunity to vote early,” LaRose said.
“Inspiring. There’s no other word for it,” said LaRose. “With two weeks until election day, our record-breaking turnout is sending a message – it’s easy to vote in Ohio.”
