Ohio Voting Issues
November 3, 2009
Ohio Voting Issues:Polls opened at 6:30 a.m. today and so far, things have been “a little busy but pretty good,” Huron County Board of Elections Director Sharon Locke said. She added there haven’t been any problems.
Locke said her guess is based on the turnout during past elections, the number of opposed and unopposed races and the number of issues on the ballot.
Locke said the last, similar election occurred two years ago and the turnout was 27-percent.
Issues and races featuring opposition tend to attract more voters, Locke said. Voters will decide on 22 local issues as well as a number of state issues in today’s election. Two years ago, there were local and state issues as well.
For many areas in Ohio, officials are predicting lower voter turnouts than last year’s general election, which included a presidential race, according to Jeff Ortega, spokesman for the state secretary of state’s office.
The number of absentee ballots in Huron County tripled from two years ago, Locke said. In 2007, the number was about 700 and is more than 2,100 this year. People had until 3 p.m. Monday to vote in the office and have until 7:30 p.m. today to turn in absentee ballots.
“Everyone’s getting more and more interested in them,” Locke said.
She said prior to 2006, people had to meet a number of criteria to vote absentee. They included being older than 62, absent from the county on election day or sick.
In 2006, Ohio’s election system launched no-fault absentee ballots. Under the system, anyone can vote absentee.
“It really became popular last year with the presidential campaigns,” Locke said. “After last year people found it’s easy (and) more convenient.”
Locke said county election officials will count absentee ballots with the unofficial results after the polls close at 7:30 p.m. more info
