MOUNT VERNON — People lined up early Tuesday for the first day of in-person voting for the Nov. 3 General Election.
Knox County Board of Elections Director James Blazer said the pace is about two-thirds of what he saw during the last presidential election.
“Which is really very, very strong for a gubernatorial (election) the first day,” he said. “There have been some lines today, but not quite as big as they were yesterday.”
A total of 384 voters cast ballots Tuesday.
Approximately 3,407 voters requested absentee ballots. Elections staff sent out 2,383 ballots yesterday.
“It’s tracking to be a 60%-plus turnout,” Blazer said. “Things can skew drastically later in the month or on any specific day, but it is considered a fairly heavy turnout.”
The November election is mid-cycle, meaning voters will choose federal and state offices, as well as congressional representatives.
“Plus, we have one commissioner that is up for re-election, so there’s some heavy county turnout. So, it’s tracking to be a pretty strong election,” Blazer said.
Blazer said the board prepares for the peak times.
“Sometimes we’ll have staff who don’t appear to be busy, but 10 minutes ago they were very busy,” he said. “It comes and goes. But we have to staff for the busy times and yesterday was pretty steady and pretty busy.”
He attributed some of the busy spurts to lunches and shift changes.
Statewide voting reported strong
Blazer said reports show a strong turnout statewide.
“You can have a very contentious race or a specific levy or something that’s a countywide thing that may or may not be controversial, and it will cause turnout,” he said.
“But we’re hearing that it’s strong statewide. Again, that can change. The weather can change, rain can cause voting to slack off, but right now, we’re having beautiful weather, so people don’t mind going out.”
According to the University of Florida Election Lab, 43,015 Ohioans voted in-person on Tuesday. Just over 624,000 requested an absentee ballot.
Voters can drop off absentee ballots at the Board of Elections, 104 E. Sugar St., on the third floor or at the ballot box on the east side of the building.
Early voting continues through Nov. 1.
