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More than 1.2M Ballots Already Cast in Ohio
COLUMBUS, Ohio – More than 1.2 million Ohioans have already cast their ballots in next week’s general election as of Friday, reports Ohio Secretary of State John Husted, who is drawing fire from a progressive group for his decision to seek an emergency stay on an order requiring ballots cast in the wrong precinct to be counted.
According to an informal survey of the state’s 88 county election boards, of the 1.3 million absentee ballots, including military and overseas ballots, that have been mailed to voters during the absentee voting period, 71.94% have been cast by mail as of Friday, or 950,544. Also, 306,776 absentee votes have been cast in person at county boards of elections or designated vote centers. As of a week earlier, Oct. 19, nearly 1.24 million absentee ballots had been sent by mail and just over half of those, 624,037, had been cast by mail, and 189,227 votes had been cast in person,
“The voting process in Ohio continues to go smoothly,” Husted said. “As we near Election Day, the pace of early voting is picking up.”
Around a dozen or so people were voting or waiting to cast ballots yesterday afternoon at the Trumbull County Board of Elections in Warren. A poll worker behind the counter said traffic in the office had been steady throught the day.
Meanwhile, Progress Ohio criticized Husted Tuesday for seeking a stay of a lower court order allowing what are called “right church wrong pew” ballots, or ballots cast in the wrong precinct of a county.
"Just days before the election, a district court has rewritten Ohio’s election laws by ordering elections officials to count certain ballots miscast when a voter
shows up and votes at the wrong polling place," Attorney General Mike DeWine's office told the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of appeal regarding a district court ruling last week in Columbus, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
"Once again Secretary Husted seems destined to be on the wrong side of history but on the right side of his party,” countered Brian Rothenberg, executive director of ProgressOhio, in a statement criticizing the appeal. “With seven days remaining before Election Day, Secretary Husted’s continued attempts to disqualify votes through the courts seem rather disingenuous. This election is paramount; Secretary Husted should direct all efforts on voter inclusiveness as opposed to looking for ways to exclude voters from the process. This is not a way to govern an election."
Husted is encouraging voters who have requested and received absentee ballots to get them returned over the next week. Absentee ballots returned by mail must be postmarked by Nov. 5, and received no later than Nov. 16, although voters may also return their ballots in person to their board of elections up until the close of polls on Election Day. It is important to note that if a voter has requested an absentee ballot and instead decides to vote in-person, they will be required to vote provisionally.
Polling places are open today and tomorrow, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Sunday, 1- 5 p.m., and Monday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Additional information on voting in Ohio is available here.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.