OHIO — Ohio’s early voting numbers and absentee ballot requests remain strong, according to the latest data released by Secretary of State Frank LaRose.
As of Tuesday, 265,062 Ohioans have now voted early in person and 978,443 have requested an absentee ballot by mail, totaling more than 1.2 million people in the state who have either voted or plan to vote.
Over the same point in the 2018 gubernatorial statewide election, that’s a 2.6% increase, according to LaRose.
Among the more than 978,000 Ohioans who requested an absentee ballot, 56.5% of them have already turned in their ballot. That’s an increase of nearly 54% at the same point in the last gubernatorial election, according to LaRose.
This year, 817,644 Ohioans have already cast their ballot, which is up from 736,464 in 2018.
With just less than a week before Election Day, LaRose encouraged residents to submit their absentee ballots as soon as possible to make their vote count.
“While Ohio law allows voters to wait until this Saturday to request an absentee ballot, that just doesn’t give our bipartisan county boards of elections much time for their security check, processing and delivery of the ballot to the voter’s mailbox before Election Day,” said LaRose. “With that in mind, voters should be focusing right now on utilizing Ohio’s extended evening and weekend early voting options or casting their ballot on Election Day so they can be sure their voice is heard.”
To return an absentee ballot in person, voters must do so to their county board of elections before 7:30 p.m. on Election Day. They will not be accepted at polling locations.
The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 8.
