HAMILTON, Ohio -- If you're trying to read the tea leaves, this could be very good news for Donald Trump: Absentee voting in Republican stronghold Butler County is up 9 percent this year compared to 2012, and 21 percent over 2008.
Two weeks before the election, the Butler County Board of Elections has seen 40 percent more requests from Republicans compared to 2012, and 51 percent more requests from Republicans compared to 2008.
For Democrats, the increase is about 60 percent compared to 2012, but a decline of about 36 percent compared to 2008.
And in terms of sheer totals, there have been almost three times as many absentee and vote-by-mail requests from Republican voters so far this year. In 2012, it also was about a three-to-one ratio, while in 2008, they were nearly equal.
While it's impossible to say how all those people are voting, Trump needs high turnout in Republican strongholds to win the Buckeye State. Tuesday's figures seem to show Trump's controversial comments about women haven't dampened the enthusiasm of his supporters, and that his claims of a "rigged" election aren't suppressing voter turnout as some have predicted.
There's been a 3 percent increase in in-person early voting, too, even though there are now fewer days to do it: In-person early voting opened 35 days before Election Day 2012, but 27 days before the election this year.
"Given the increase in overall absentee voting and early voting in particular, we continue to anticipate record turnout in November," said Jocelyn Bucaro, deputy director of the Butler County Board of Elections.
Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., campaigned for his dad in Butler County college town Oxford, Ohio on Monday. He blasted career politicians in Washington told the college crowd to bring their friends to vote, too.
"Get everyone else out to the polls and we're going to do this," he said. "We're going to win Ohio and we're going to win this country and we're going to make America great again."
The latest RealClearPolitics average of polls puts Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, ahead of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton by 1 percent in Ohio.
