2 Million Absentee Ballots Requested by Ohio Voters

COLUMBUS, Ohio – With just five weeks until Election Day, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced Tuesday that more than 2 million absentee ballot applications — 2,000,489, to be exact — have been received by county boards of elections statewide.

This includes 24,222 requests from military and overseas voters whose absentee ballots began to be mailed two weeks ago. All other absentee ballots will be mailed beginning Oct. 6.

Over the past week, 216,485 new absentee ballot requests were submitted by Ohio voters, according to LaRose. At the comparable period during the 2016 election, 957,260 absentee ballots had been requested. All data is current as of Sept. 25.

LaRose also provided a spreadsheet that shows how many absentee ballots had been requested by voters in each of Ohio’s 88 counties. In the three county area, the numbers are:

• Columbiana County: 91 military ballots, 13,716 absentee ballots.
• Mahoning County: 291 military ballots, 38,234 absentee ballots.
• Trumbull County: 222 military ballots, 37,502 absentee ballots.

LaRose is scheduled to address the Youngstown Rotary Club today at noon and then take questions from reporters.

This week, he issued a directive that provides clarity to Ohio voters who may have requested an absentee ballot, but may still be considering voting in person. Voters who have requested an absentee ballot but choose to vote on election day must vote by provisional ballot, LaRose said. But Ohioans who have requested an absentee ballot but decide to vote early in-person will not be required to vote by provisional ballot. 

”We are making it easier than ever for registered Ohio voters to make their voice heard,” said LaRose.

The deadline to register to vote or update voter registration information is Oct. 5. Early voting begins Oct.6.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.