Area voters break records

Total tallies for early voting have shattered records from previous presidential elections, officials say.

By the close of polls on Monday, the final day for in-person early voting, 30,582 people had voted either by mail or in person in both Mercer and Auglaize counties.

According to Toni Slusser, president of the Mercer County Board of Elections, 16,097 ballots had been cast in the county by the end of Monday - that's 54.7% of the county's 29,409 registered voters. Of the total ballots cast, 6,760 were mail-in, 9,270 were cast in person at the Mercer County Courthouse and 67 ballots were filed under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.

In Auglaize County, 14,485 ballots had been cast or requested by mail, representing 44.6% of the county's total registered voters. In the 2016 presidential election, only 6,122 early in-person and absentee ballots were received, according to county board of elections director Michelle Wilcox. That number was exceeded this year by early in-person voters alone, which Wilcox said numbered 7,940.

Officials from both counties have predicted a much higher-than-average voter turnout for this election.

Statewide, 3.4 million voters have cast their absentee ballot or voted early - shattering previous records, according to Secretary of State Frank LaRose. Prior to this election, Ohio had never surpassed 2 million total votes in the entirety of the early voting period. With 243,023 absentee ballots still outstanding, Ohio's early vote total is already 180% of the previous early vote record and equals 60% of the total number of votes cast in the entire 2016 general election. This data includes all ballots received and processed through 2 p.m. Monday.

Additional analysis of the data indicates that absentee ballots are being returned at a rate that drastically outpaces that in 2016, according to LaRose. The state has seen nearly 2.1 million absentee ballots returned to county boards of elections. In 2016, that number was essentially half that with just 1.14 million absentee ballots returned.

The doubling of the number of returned absentee ballots relative to 2016 is a very strong indicator that election mail is moving quickly, he added. Absentee ballots must have been postmarked by Monday or delivered to the voter's county board of elections by 7:30 p.m. today.

The polls today will be open from 6:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m., and voters will be asked to wear a mask and follow social- distancing guidelines, especially since several poll workers are at an age that makes them particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. If voters do not wish to wear a mask or are showing symptoms of COVID-19, they will be asked to use curbside voting.

Anyone in Auglaize County who does not wear a mask inside the polling location will have his or her name turned over to the county health department for violating the state mask mandate, Wilcox said.

Wilcox has reminded voters that all polling locations include a 100-foot politically neutral zone surrounding the location. No political paraphernalia may be brought into this area. Political paraphernalia also must be kept at least 10 feet from voters waiting in line outside of that radius, she said.

People who wish to act as poll watchers in Ohio must be registered and are required to show credentials and take an oath, Wilcox continued.