MANSFIELD — It does not appear low voter turnout will be a problem in Richland County in the 2020 general election.
In 2016, 56,106 Richland County residents cast ballots during the last presidential election year. With still one week to go before Election Day, more than one-third of the county’s eligible voters have already participated, either by voting early in-person or through absentee ballot.
That means 55 percent of the total votes cast in 2016 in the county have already been cast in 2020, largely a combination of a heated presidential race that is occurring during a global pandemic.
According to Paulette Hankins, the county’s election director, 30,866 votes had been cast by late Monday, roughly evenly divided between those voting in person and those casting absentee ballots.
She said 15,160 people have come to the elections board office at 1495 W. Longview Ave. to cast ballots since early voting began Oct. 6. Another 15,706 absentee ballots have been returned.
Hankins said 15,025 (48 percent) of the ballots cast thus far have come from non-affiliated voters. She said 9,191 ballots (30 percent) have come from registered Republicans and 6,650 (22 percent) from registered Democrats.
Hankins said the local elections board continues to see a steady, and perhaps growing, number of voters casting ballots in person each day. Early voting ends Monday, Nov. 2, at 2 p.m.
On Election Day on Nov. 3, polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Hankins said the office handled more than 1,150 in-person voters on Monday, “the highest day so far.” The smallest daily turnout was 850, Hankins said.
“We’re open until 7 p.m. each evening this week now, and we expect to reach 2,000 voters daily towards the end of the week, and possibly on the weekend,” Hankins said.
By law, the deadline to request an absentee ballot is Saturday, Oct. 31, and the deadline to have that ballot postmarked for return is Monday, Nov. 2.
That leaves little margin for error, according to Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who urged voters to request their absentee ballots by the end of the day Tuesday.
“If you request your absentee ballot at noon on Saturday before the election you’re going to receive it in most cases Wednesday, Thursday or Friday after the election is over,” LaRose said.
Valid absentee ballots postmarked by Nov. 2 and received by Nov. 13 will still be counted. LaRose, however, cautioned there is no need to wait until the last minute.
“The last thing we would want to do is create that expectation where Ohioans think they can wait until the last minute,” LaRose said. “I think if any of us would admit, any of us that have ever been a college student before we know that procrastination is a bad idea right? Same thing with being a voter.”
LaRose said two-thirds of Ohioans requesting absentee ballots have already returned them.
More than 2.7 million voters had requested absentee ballots across the state by Oct. 20 — nearly double the 1.4 million requested at that same point in 2016, according to LaRose.
In Ohio, elections officials can open absentee ballot envelopes, check signatures and load them into machines — but not count them — in advance. When polls close on Election Day, those votes can be quickly counted.
In some states, including the presidential battleground state of Pennsylvania, absentee ballots cannot be opened until after the polls close on Election Day, which will further delay the final count.
To avoid what are likely going to be increasing lines of in-person voting LaRose urged voters to take advantage of all available voting methods, including completing an absentee ballot and dropping it off at a drop box outside the local board of elections.
“Anybody that says it’s hard to vote in Ohio is simply not telling the truth. It’s easy to vote in Ohio, it’s demonstrably easier to vote in Ohio than almost any other state in the nation, and it’s something that we’re proud of and Ohioans are taking advantage of that,” he said.
