With less than two weeks left in early voting, 16 Ohio counties are recovering from delays in getting absentee ballots to voters because of a problem with an outside vendor.
Ohioans who have been waiting for their mail-in ballots are starting to open up their postal boxes to find them. But some might be in less than perfect condition.
When Ohioans go to the polls to vote early in person, they are asked to wear a mask. If they don’t have one, polls will provide one. But what happens if the voter refuses that offer?
More than two million Ohioans have requested absentee ballots to be sent to them. But some of those voters are having second thoughts. If you are one of them, it's ok. You have options.
Absentee ballot requests are flooding into boards of elections. Secretary of State Frank LaRose reports 1.4 million applications have been received so far, well more than the 1.2 million ballot requests received in all of 2016. And early voting doesn’t start till October 6.
A panel of lawmakers has shot down a request by Ohio’s Republican Secretary of State that would have allowed his office to pay for postage for mail-in ballots.
President Trump has repeated his concerns about mail-in voting, which Ohio has allowed as part of its no-fault early absentee voting for 14 years. The message not to vote by mail may be getting through to his supporters. But Democrats are requesting ballots in huge numbers.
The state’s Republican chief elections officer and Ohio Democrats continue to battle over installing additional drop boxes where absentee voters could deposit their ballots if they’re concerned about the security and speed of mailing them in this fall.
A voting rights organization says there are potentially a lot fewer voters who will cast ballots this year compared to the presidential primary four years ago. The group looked at totals so far for the March 17 primary that has been extended to April 28.
The two year operating budget will move next year’s presidential primary to St. Patrick’s Day. Republicans had to move it to after March 15 so they could award all delegates to a single candidate.
More Ohioans have requested early absentee ballots for this midterm election than the last one in 2014. But Ohio is behind other states that are seeing record early turnout levels. And there’s a lot of speculation about whether that shows a “red tide” is building again in Ohio, or whether the state will be part of the nationally-predicted “blue wave”.
Recentpolls have shown the race for Ohio governor is very close. And that means the results could come down to provisional ballots – those cast by people who didn’t have proper ID, for instance – and to absentee ballots that hadn’t arrived at boards of elections by Tuesday. And that means Tuesday night’s total might not be the final outcome.
Early voting is now underway in Ohio, which has seen strong Republican wins in the last two midterm election cycles. But many are wondering about the impact of an increase in registered voters in a midterm year that looks good nationwide for Democrats.
More than 260,000 Ohioans voted early by mail or in person - before primary election day. There are nearly 8 million registered voters in Ohio. And historically, turnout for primaries in Ohio is just under 30 percent.
Ohio voters can now cast their ballots and make their voices heard on various local issues, a big statewide measure on redrawing the Congressional districts map, and primary candidates.
Nearly 5.5 million Ohioans cast ballots in the November presidential election, making the turnout in 2016 slightly higher than it was four years ago. And there are other highlights in the election results just made official by the Secretary of State.
Thousands of people stood in huge lines at boards of elections offices in the state’s biggest counties. At the Franklin County Board of Elections, the line on Saturday was an eighth of a mile long.
Many County Board of Elections officials say the early in-person voter turnout in this year’s election has been breaking records. The reporters of the Statehouse News Bureau talked to voters in two counties in Central Ohio - one run by Republicans and one dominated by Democrats.
While Democrats have been pushing their voters to cast early ballots, the Republican nominee for president has been on the campaign trail urging people to consider changing their early votes.
Early voting numbers are coming in from the last few weeks, and from the first weekend of early in person voting. And the numbers could prove to be problematic for Democrats, who found success with early voting in the last presidential election.
The US Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from advocates for the homeless and the Ohio Democratic Party to ensure that more absentee and provisional ballots are counted. That settles the final lawsuit of the 2016 election over Ohio’s election laws – for now.
Polls show the presidential race is close in Ohio – a key swing state that voted for President Obama in the last two elections. This weekend was the first of two weekend of early in person voting, and it had both major political parties working to turn out their voters.
