#USelection | Early voting in Ohio shatters records with 3.4 million votes

Ohio voters have crushed all previous records, with 60 per cent of voters in the state casting their votes before Election Day.

Some 3.4 million voters have cast their votes either by absentee ballot or early voting, says Frank LaRose, secretary of state for the battleground region and chief election officer.

“Prior to this election, Ohio had never surpassed 2 million total votes in the entirety of the early voting period. With 243,023 absentee ballots still outstanding, Ohio’s early vote total is already 180 per cent of the previous early vote record and equals 60 per cent of the total number of votes cast in the entire 2016 General Election. This data includes all ballots received and processed through 2:00 p.m., on Monday afternoon.

The Republican appointee credits the unprecedented feat with the “State having the most accessible election machinery in its history”.

Beginning in the spring, Secretary LaRose identified poll worker recruitment, voter registration, health protocols, PPE distribution, combatting disinformation and, in order to reduce the burden on voting locations on election day, maximising participation in early and absentee voting, as the key priorities for conducting a successful election amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

“These numbers show, without a doubt, that the goal of maximising voter participation in early and absentee voting has been achieved. The quantifiable metrics for each of these distinct objectives makes it clear that our pandemic preparations have been a success and Ohio is ready for this election.”

Last Friday, the State Secretary predicted this would happen during a presentation to a group of Latin America and Caribbean election observers who are currently in the US on a Democracy Win organised trip.

So far, there has been one report of computers going down for an hour in the city of Blacklick, forcing voters to resort to casting their ballots manually.

Tomas Quintana, who voted at that polling station told The Gleaner that he stood in line for two hours after the polls opened at 7:30 a.m.

He voted when the screens came back up.

Ohio is a battleground state that could decide the presidency. No Republican has won the presidency without carrying Ohio.

The Democrats are hoping to flip the state, which was won by Donald Trump by eight percentage points in 2016.

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