Elections official: Butler County will break voter turnout record this year

Credit: Nick Graham

Credit: Nick Graham

With less than 10 minutes left in the last day of early voting, there was line stretching from the Butler County Care Facility to the Butler County Board of Elections building.

“People are lined up from our lot to the nursing home and it’s been like that all day,” said Diane Noonan, Butler County elections board director.

She said at 2 p.m., a board of elections employee would stand at the end of the line. All voters in line before 2 p.m. would be permitted to cast their ballot. At the end of the final day of early voting, 2,102 people voted on Monday.

Monday’s early voting polls were open statewide from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

As of the end of early voting Monday, 115,814 people had cast their ballots in Butler County. Noonan said 58,924 voted in person at the elections board office.

“I have never seen anything like this before,” she said.

Butler County has more than 256,930 registered voters. Noonan thinks overall voter turnout will be 81 to 85 percent.

She anticipates today’s election day live voting will be slower due to the number of early and absentee voters. Noonan said this election will have the largest turnout ever.

On Saturday, Eric Corbin, Butler County’s deputy elections director, told the Journal-News that many people like the election day experience of going to the polls. He said the increase in early voting was by driven by the impact of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, followed by the heightened awareness of the election campaigns and concerns about absentee ballots getting delayed by the Postal Service.

In Warren County, the last in-person voter was casting their ballot at the curb just before 3 p.m. Monday. Elections Director Brian Sleeth said 92,174 residents voted early that included 41,579 people voting early in-person at the elections board office.

Also on Monday, he said they had 14 people with COVID-19 cast their ballots curbside on Monday, which required a staff member to suit up to assist the voter with casting their ballot. Sleeth said they would have five to six curbside voters each day during early voting.

On Saturday, Sleeth said one voter wanted their ballot counted that they paid $26 to overnight their absentee ballot to the elections board.

Sleeth said he anticipates overall voter turnout to be between 81% to 85% when polls close on Tuesday. He said voter turnout is the largest in recent memory, adding it was 78.4% in the 2016 presidential election, and 76.3% in the 2012 presidential election.

If you still have an absentee ballot on your home desk or kitchen table, you will need to drop it off at the county Board of Elections office before 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Elections officials said voters with absentee ballots should drop them off at the election board offices.

On Election Day today, the polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.


FOR MORE INFORMATION OR WHERE TO VOTE TODAY:

Butler County, Board of Elections

Telephone: (513) 887-3700; E-Mail: butler@OhioSoS.gov; Website: elections.bcohio.gov

Warren County Board of Elections

Telephone: (513) 695-1358; E-mail: wcboe@warrencountyohio.gov; Website: vote.warrencountyohio.gov

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