BY MEGAN HENRY
More than 2.53 million Ohioans voted early in the election, according to data from the Ohio Secretary of State as of Monday afternoon.
This is a combination of in person early voting and returned absentee ballots, totaling 2,532,260. Early voting ended Sunday. There are more than 8 million registered voters in Ohio — meaning almost a third of the state’s voters have already cast their ballots.
[RELATED: Nearly 21,000 early votes are cast in Wood County]
Polls are open for Election Day from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. You can find your local polling location here.
More than 1.5 million Ohioans voted in person and 995,482 Ohioans have returned their absentee ballots. At least 87% of Ohioans have returned their absentee ballots as of Monday. Absentee ballots must have been postmarked by Monday and be received by Saturday. Absentee ballots are counted and tabulated first on election night.
Six percent of early voting was done via a ballot drop box.
The overwhelming majority of those who voted early are unaffiliated with either party, accounting for more than 1.37 million votes. More Republicans (707,741) voted early than Democrats (447,656). More than 5.7 million registered Ohio voters are unaffiliated as of May 10, according to the Ohio Secretary of State.
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Early voters skewed older. Slightly more than a million voters 65 and older either voted absentee or early in person.
Ohio has 5% more new 18 and 19 year old votersregistered to vote this year compared to 2020, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University.
The state Senate race between Republican Bernie Moreno and incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown ranks as the number two Senate race in the country where young people can have a major influence on election results, according to CIRCLE’s Youth Electoral Significance Index.
Over in the House, Ohio’s 13th Congressional District between incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes and Republican Kevin Coughlin ranks as the ninth House race in the country where young people can have a major influence on election results, according to CIRCLE.
Cuyahoga County had the highest number of both absentee ballots requested (178,155) and returned (156,233), giving it an 88% return rate.
Belmont County has the highest absentee ballot returned rate with 92%. Seven counties had a 91% absentee ballot return rate: Gallia, Huron, Coshocton, Brown, Carroll, Muskingum and Jefferson. Delaware County had the lowest absentee ballot return rate with 82%.
Franklin County had the most early in person ballots cast with 127,124, followed by Hamilton County with 95,976 and Cuyahoga County with 62,572.
This year’s numbers for early in person and absentee voting are down compared to the 2020 election during the COVID-19 pandemic where nearly 2.2 million Ohioans voted absentee and more than 1.3 million Ohioans voted early in person, according to the Ohio Legislative Service Commission.
Voters going to the polls on Tuesday must have a photo ID to vote in person. This could be a valid Ohio driver’s license, a U.S. passport, a military ID, an Ohio ID card, an interim ID form issued by the Ohio BMV, an Ohio National Guard ID card or a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ID card.
