MANSFIELD — Early-voting turnout has made Matt Finfgeld more optimistic about Richland County participation in Tuesday’s primary election.
The Richland County Board of Elections director said Monday he anticipates 25 to 30 percent of registered voters will cast ballots before polls close Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
As of Monday morning, around 5,500 voters had already cast ballots either in-person at the board office during the past month of early voting or by absentee mail ballots, he said. That’s about 7 percent of all registered voters in the county.
That’s up from 3,100 early votes in May 2022, the most recent gubernatorial primary. In that election cycle, about 24.4 percent of total registered voters cast ballots. Finfgeld said the county only had around 3,700 early votes in 2024, during a presidential primary election cycle.
“The popularity of early voting has definitely increased,” Finfgeld said. “People have found out how convenient it is.”
He said the Board of Elections had 185 voters on Sunday in the first hour or so of operation. It was the final day of early voting.
The leader of the bipartisan board said local tax issues in Madison, Lexington and Ontario schools are drawing voters to the polls, in addition to a countywide wind/solar issue.
According to the county board of elections website, 3,172 early Republican ballots had been cast, compared to 2,149 Democratic, 268 non-partisan and 17 Libertarian.
Voters should prepare themselves to vote “yes” or “no” on the wind/solar issue before going to their polling site Tuesday.
— A “yes” vote on the referendum is in support of the of the resolution approved by Richland County commissioners that prohibits large wind and solar energy projects in 11 of the county’s 18 townships.
— A “no” vote would end the restrictions imposed by commissioners and would allow such projects to be considered on a case-by-case basis.
“Our poll workers cannot comment on what ‘yes’ or ‘no’ means. Even their tone of voice could make it not neutral,” Finfgeld said.
The wind/solar issue has also led to a contingent from the University of Michigan to conduct exit polling at a dozen Richland County voting locations Tuesday.
Those conducting the exit polls cannot be in the rooms where voting takes place, Finfgeld said.
“It’s up to voters if they want to tell them how they voted or not. They have every right to be be there (doing the exit polling). We have had exit polls periodically over the years, but not at that many locations,” he said.
Finfgeld said blue and red sandbags would be also be visible at polling locations to help prevent ADA signs from being blown over.
“They are just bags of sand,” he said.
Anyone planning to bring an absentee ballot to the Board of Elections office on Longview Avenue must deliver them by Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. They can be dropped off inside the office or in the dropbox outside.
