Early voting is quite popular

CELINA - Electors have been flocking to the Mercer County Courthouse auditorium to cast their ballots ahead of Election Day on Tuesday.

"We've been steady. We're up over 200 people a day this week," said Mercer County Board of Elections Director Kristie Rable. "Otherwise, we were doing about 150, 160."

The same is occurring at the board of elections office in neighboring Auglaize County, mirroring the surge of early voting across the state.

"I think it carries over from 2020," said Auglaize County Board of Elections Director Michelle Wilcox of high early voting numbers. "It's an important election with the national Senate race and of course the governor's and the statewide offices. I think it's just brought awareness to voting right now and it's got people interested."

As of Tuesday, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose noted that among Ohioans who have requested to vote absentee, 56.5% have already returned their ballot.

That figure reflects a 53.9% increase from the same point during the midterm elections in 2018.

Early voting numbers as of Thursday at both county boards of election have surpassed that of total absentee tallies in 2018, election officials said.

So far, 2,930 absentee ballots have been cast in-person at the Mercer County Board of Election's early voting center, 36.8% more than all of the absentee ballots cast in-person during the 2018 general election.

Auglaize County is seeing similar results.

"In total in 2018 in the final certification we had 4,342 absentees. That's both in office and mail," Wilcox said. "We're actually 200 over (that amount) already … and we still have Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday as well."

Electors have several ways to vote early. In Mercer County, they can vote in-person in the courthouse in Celina and in Auglaize County, the board of elections office at 209 S. Blackhoof St., Wapakoneta.

Early in-person voting hours are uniform across the state - 8 a.m. -7 p.m. today, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday and 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday.

Absentee ballots returned by U.S. Mail must be postmarked no later than Monday and received by boards of election by Nov. 18 to be counted.

"If a voter chooses to return their absentee ballot in person, they must do so to their county board of elections no later than 7:30 p.m. on Election Day," LaRose noted in a news release. "Ohio law does not allow absentee ballots to be returned to a polling location on Election Day."

Absentee ballots also can be deposited in drop boxes at each county board of elections office. The Mercer County drop box is located in the circle driveway on the north side of the courthouse.

The Auglaize County drop box is located in the alley on the north side of the county building.

"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."