IN-OFFICE EARLY VOTING
A U.S. Supreme Court decision this past Monday pushed early voting in Ohio to Oct. 7. Voters standing in line at the close of early voting for the day will be permitted to vote that day. Here are the hours for voting early at a local board of elections office:
Weekdays from Oct. 7 to Oct. 31: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (except on Columbus Day, Oct. 13 when the office is closed)
Saturday, Oct. 25 and Saturday, Nov. 1*: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 2: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 3: 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
* All vote-by-mail applications must be received at the Board of Elections no later than noon on Nov. 1 to vote by mail in the Nov. 4 general election.
Source: Ohio Secretary of State
Hanover Twp. resident Larry Gersbach said he always votes early in elections. It’s a lesson he learned after he and his family didn’t vote in an election, he said, and a candidate he supported lost by only a few votes.
That race was the 2012 GOP primary for County Commission where T.C. Rogers won the nomination by 13 votes over Courtney Combs.
“I generally vote in each election for the same reason,” said Gersbach, who was at a funeral out of town on Election Day 2012. “I didn’t think about (voting early). Voting early, that’s the way you can ensure you can vote.”
Early voting in Ohio was expected to happen on Sept. 30, but 18 hours before the start the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Court Judge Peter Economus. Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine appeal the injunction to the 6th District Court of Appeals, and after it upheld the injunction appealed the matter to the Supreme Court.
The NAACP of Ohio, League of Women voters and several black churches filed a lawsuit in May against the state law that eliminated “Golden Week” — where Ohioans can register and cast a ballot in the same week — and reduced the number of early voting days from 35 to 28. Economus ruled the law was unconstitutional and issued the preliminary injunction on Sept. 4.
More than 236,200 people are registered to vote on the Nov. 4 ballot, and final registration numbers will be known by the end of the week, said Jocelyn Bucaro, deputy director of the Butler County Board of Elections. Total voter turnout is anticipated to be between 50 and 51 percent, she said, and about a third of the votes cast — either at the elections office or by mail — will be done so before Election Day.
She expected about 150 people would cast a vote on the first day of early voting, which within the first two hours saw 43 people cast an early ballot.
Now, Bucaro said, every day until Nov. 4 will be Election Day.
“It’s Election Day for us because it’s when we actually have voters here voting,” she said.
In 2010, about 25 percent of all ballots were cast before Election Day, and it was 30 percent two years ago.
“I expect that it keeps getting bigger,” Bucaro said.
And as people have made up their minds on the candidates they will support, and how they will vote on levies, they’ll send in an absentee ballot or come into the board of elections office to vote early.
“I knew who I wanted to vote for and I knew some of the candidates were here early and I wanted to come out and talk with them,” said Peter Carels, of Oxford.
In the past few elections, he said he’s typically voted early.
Richard Morefield, of Millville, also knew who he was going to vote for and “I figured I might as well come out.”
Cathina Hourani, a candidate for the 52nd Ohio House District, was at the polls when they opened along with other Democrats. She wasn’t pleased voting was delayed a week by the Supreme Court.
“Everybody has an equal right to vote and we need to keep it open and to make sure it’s accessible,” she said. “And make sure it’s not hard for people to vote.”
Early voting is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every weekday in October, except for Columbus Day on Monday. Early voting will also be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 25 and Nov. 1, both Saturdays, and from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 2. The last day for early voting is from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Nov. 3.
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