MANSFIELD — Almost 15,000 Richland County voters have requested absentee ballots as of Tuesday, more than twice as many at the same point in 2016.
Richland County Board of Elections Director Paulette Hankins said Tuesday afternoon the office has received 14,774 absentee ballot requests for the Nov. 3 election, compared to 6,156 at the same point during the last presidential general election cycle.
With five weeks until Election Day, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced Tuesday that 2,000,489 absentee ballot applications have been received by county boards of elections statewide.
At the same time during the 2016 election, 957,260 absentee ballots had been requested statewide All statewide data is current as of Sept. 18.
This includes 24,222 requests from military and overseas voters whose absentee ballots began to be mailed two weeks ago. All other absentee ballots will be mailed beginning Oct. 6th.
Over the past week, 216,485 new absentee ballot requests were submitted by Ohio voters, LaRose said.
The deadline to register to vote, or change your name and/or address on your voter record Oct. 5 with early voting beginning Oct. 6. The board of elections office at 1495 W. Longview Ave. will be open until 9 p.m. on Oct. 5.
Hankins said the county appears to in good shape in terms of having enough poll workers to handle in-person voting.
“We currently have about 30 vacant poll worker slots at this time. We have over 600 people signed up to take the training classes for new workers next week,” Hankins said. “We have a class for new workers on Oct. 7, another one on Oct. 8 and a make-up class scheduled for Oct. 17. The make-up class will be a condensed version of the new worker training, plus our regular ‘station’ training, which gives more of a hands-on demonstration for each facet of the procedures.
“We should be fine as far as an adequate number of poll workers, plus an additional worker at each location to monitor the sanitization and line spacing needs. The only ‘unknown’ would be if there’s a surge in the spread of the virus and we have a late-breaking mass cancellation of workers. We’re planning on having the extra new workers in reserve for this contingency.”
LaRose this week issued a directive that provides clarity to Ohio voters who may have requested an absentee ballot, but may still consider voting in person.
The directive, which mirrors Ohio law, states voters who have requested an absentee ballot, but choose to vote on Election Day, must vote by provisional ballot.
However, those Ohioans who have requested an absentee ballot, but choose to vote early in-person, will not be required to vote by provisional ballot solely based on the fact that they requested an absentee ballot.
”We are making it easier than ever for registered Ohio voters to make their voice heard,” LaRose said. “Every voter choosing to cast their ballot from the comfort of their own home makes for an even smoother voting experience for those choosing to vote in-person on election day. It’s a win-win for everyone.”
