CINCINNATI — One week ahead of Election Day, Ohio is reporting a 50% increase in the number of early, in-person voters this year compared to 2018.
Hamilton County is reporting the same increase locally.
“I think a lot of people voted early for the first time in 2020 and they saw how convenient it is,” said Hamilton County Deputy Director of Elections Alex Linser.
Any registered voter in Ohio can vote early either in-person or by mail.
Marita Pettit visited Hamilton County’s Early Vote Center on Wednesday.
“It's important to be aware of what the issues are and to voice your opinion,” she said. “It's kind of your responsibility as a citizen.”
Pettit votes in every election and prefers to vote early.
“Election day can be really crowded,” she said. “It’s just much easier for us to come over here and take our time and get it done.”
“I think it's just less traffic,” said Jaila Sanders, who also voted early on Wednesday. “I just like to get it out the way when I can.”
Hamilton County election officials say registration trends this year have been similar to 2018.
“2018 was a record-breaking year for turnout,” Linser said. “We're on pace for something similar this year.”
Just under 11% of registered Hamilton County voters had cast ballots as of Wednesday. Just under 8% of those voters had cast ballots by mail and about 3% had voted early in person.
The last day to vote early in-person in Ohio is Monday.
Absentee ballot requests in Ohio must be received by Saturday at noon. Two postage stamps are required to mail them back.
“At this point in the election, it's really important that that ballot is postmarked by the day before election day,” Linser said. “Take it into the post office and make sure they put a postmark on it. Because if we don't have the postmark, we might not be able to count it."
In-person no-excuse early voting in Kentucky begins Thursday and runs through Saturday.
