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Absentee voters absent in Ohio
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By BARBARA GOLDMAN, Staff Writer
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GEORGETOWN, Ohio -- A week-long period in which Ohioans could register to vote and immediately cast a ballot ended Monday with a turnout that didn't quite match the expectations of election officials statewide -- but not in Brown County.
Early returns showed about 3,000 voters in Ohio's four largest counties took advantage of the disputed policy, a surprisingly low turnout to some elections officials.
Monday was the last day for voters to register and by Monday afternoon, Brown County had over 27,000 registered voters. The Board of Elections office remained open until 9 p.m. so that perspective voters had ample time to register.
According to Sue McIntosh, director of the Brown County Board of Elections, at least 200 voters cast their vote at the Board of Elections office.
"It's the fifth day, at about 40 a day, that's how many we've gotten so far," said McIntosh on Monday afternoon. "I don't look for that to slow down too much, and that's good. We like people to vote."
The window was expected to benefit Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama, as his campaign and advocacy groups drove Democratic-leaning demographics such as the homeless, college students and low-income voters to the polls. Through Sunday, 1,152 voters had taken advantage of the policy in Franklin County, which includes Columbus. In Montgomery County, home to Dayton, roughly 250 people had used it. And in Hamilton County, where Cincinnati is located, about 454 voters had taken advantage of the window by midday Monday.
Another 1,000 or so were expected from Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland and is the state's most populous county.
"With all the hoopla we were anticipating a whole lot more," said Montgomery County Board of Elections Director Steve Harsman.
The Ohio GOP sued in federal court to stop the voting window, but was unsuccessful.
Republicans argued Ohio law required voters to have been registered for at least 30 days before they could be given an absentee ballot. They said the window could lead to widespread voting fraud because officials wouldn't have an opportunity to verify registration information before ballots were cast.
A "very heavy" amount of Brown County voters are taking advantage of absentee voting, especially early absentee voting this year.
According to McIntosh, more than 1,100 voters in her county took advantage of voting through the mail prior to the November election.
In 2004, McIntosh said 2,024 absentee ballots were cast.
"I think we'll definitely exceed that," said McIntosh.
McIntosh also reminded voters that absentee ballots being mailed out must be received the Saturday prior to election day at noon.
For more information on absentee voting, or voting in Brown County go to http://www.electionsonthe.net/Oh/Brown/ or call 937-378-6457.
Contact Barbara Goldman at barbara.goldman@lee.net or by calling 606-564-9091, ext. 274.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Associated Press contributed to this story. |
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Reader Comments
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Laura wrote on Oct 8, 2008 3:43 PM: " My Father was from Brown's county Ohio, I think it is one if the most beautiful places i have had the priveledge of visiting. "
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