MANSFIELD — Hours before polls open open on Election Day, almost 46 percent of registered Richland County voters have already cast ballots.
In-person, early voting ended Monday at 2 p.m. across Ohio with polls set to open Tuesday at 6:30 a.m., remaining open until 7:30 p.m.
Richland County Board of Elections Director Paulette Hankins on Monday predicted 73 percent voter participation in the county, or about 60,418 of the county’s 82,765 registered voters.
At the close of early voting, which began Oct. 6, Hankins said 22,777 county residents had voted in-person, about twice as many over 2016 (11,140).
Among those voting early in-person, 7,240 were Republicans, 3,143 were Democrats and 12,394 were non-affiliated.
She said 14,894 absentee ballots had been returned — 4,047 Democrats, 3,067 Republicans and 7,180 non-affiliated.
That means 37,761 local residents cast ballots before the doors open on traditional Election Day.
In the most recent presidential general election, 68.4 percent of Richland County’s eligible voters participated — 56,106 out of 82,032.
Local elections workers began Sunday delivering voting equipment to the county’s various polling locations, a process that continued on Monday.
“Ontario Senior Center is open for voting tomorrow. They had a sign up saying ‘Closed until further notice,’ which confused some voters,” Hankins said.
“I talked to Mayor (Randy) Hutchison (Monday) morning and he’s going to have the sign removed or re-worded to indicate that voting will still take place there (Tuesday),” she said.
For those headed the polls on Tuesday:
— You must show ID to vote in Ohio. Acceptable forms include: an unexpired Ohio driver’s license or state ID card; a military ID; a photo ID issued by the US government or the State of Ohio, that contains your name and current address and that has an expiration date that has not passed; or a current (within the last 12 months) utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document (other than a notice of voter registration mailed by a board of elections) that shows your name and current address.
— Voters without ID: If you do not have any of the above forms of identification you may provide either your Ohio driver’s license or state identification number (which begins with two letters followed by six numbers) or the last four digits of your Social Security number and cast a provisional ballot. Once the information is reviewed and verified by the board of elections, your ballot will be counted.
— If you do not provide one of the above documents or your driver’s license/state identification number or the last four digits of your Social Security number at the precinct, you will still be able to vote using a provisional ballot. However, in order for that ballot to be counted, you must return to the board of elections no later than seven days following Election Day to provide a qualifying form of identification.
Click here to find your polling location.
Click here to find the status of your absentee ballot.
All absentee ballots received by the county board of elections by the time polls close Tuesday will be included in the unofficial vote totals released on election night.
Outstanding ballots that are postmarked by Nov. 2nd and received by the county board of elections within 10 days after the election will be included in the final official results that are released in late November.
Every properly cast ballot will be counted, according to Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose. LaRose must certify the election by Nov. 28 under state law.
(Correction: An earlier version of this story had an incorrect total regarding returned absentee ballots.)
