HAMILTON, Ohio — Both voters and election officials in Butler County are pleading with residents to "please, please, please come out and vote."
There are big-ticket items on the ballot, including the race for president and Senate — two races that drew Manette Smith to the polls Monday.
"I wanted my vote to count," she said." I feel like this election is very important."
Smith joined hundreds of other early voters in traveling to the Butler County Board of Elections at lunchtime to cast their ballots. Their votes will make up only a fraction of the day's numbers, election officials said.
There have been an average of 2,000 daily voters at the center. Since early voting started on Oct. 8, workers have tallied more than 20,000 ballots. Approximately 255,000 people are registered to vote in the county.
"Our early voting has been very busy and it looks like our early voting numbers are really close to what we've seen in 2020," said Erin Cordin, deputy director with the Butler County Board of Elections.
Though early voting numbers are on par with those in the last general election, Cordin said staff noted a significant difference in one area: mail-in ballot requests. The BOE sent out half the number of absentee ballots this year compared to 2020.
"It's really great to see the parking lot full, to see all out poll workers here to train and to see all these voters coming through with their stickers, you know checking voting off the list for the year," Corbin said. "We're interested to see how the last weeks work because we think this is going to be a high-turnout election."
Other Southwest Ohio counties are seeing steady early voting numbers as well. More than 10,000 people have cast their ballots in Clermont County since Oct. 8. Election officials there said they're seeing an average of 1,000 daily early voters, but expect that number to increase to 1,100 as polling hours extend over the next two weeks.
More than 150,000 people are registered to vote in the county. The Board of Elections Office has received 21,050 absentee by-mail ballot requests as of Monday.
In Warren County, election officials said daily early voting numbers are holding steady. As of Monday evening, more than 18,000 people have cast their ballots in person.
Mail-in ballot requests are down 40% from 2020 but the Board of Elections office did mail out more than 25,000 ahead of the upcoming general election. Nearly 14,000 have been returned.
According to the Hamilton County Board of Elections website, more than 29,000 people have cast early ballots — with an average of 3,000 people voting daily.
Back in Butler County, Corbin said he's expecting a high-voter turnout election overall. Whether early in person, through the mail or on Election Day, he urges voters to understand the issues before they exercise their Constitutional right.
"I wish I had a crystal ball, but we've seen in past historical results that we have turnout in Butler County of about 72%, so that's the best guess we have," said Corbin.
