The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
EARLY VOTING NUMBERS ON RISE IN LAKE COUNTY
As primary approaches, totals up 4 percent from same time in 2016
A little more than a week before election day, early voting in Lake County was up about 4 percent over where it was at the same point in 2016, Elections Board Director Ross McDonald said.
Board records show that as of 2 p.m., March 9, there were 8,873 people in the county who either requested an absentee ballot or voted in the county Elections Board Office.
McDonald said they’ve seen some uptick in voting since
March 3 (Super Tuesday), where the Democratic Presidential Primary took a more defined shape and now appears to be a two-person race between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. Tulsi Gabbard is also still in the race.
Several Democratic presidential candidates suspended their campaigns just prior to, and just after, Super Tuesday. McDonald said they’ve received some phone calls about where those candidates will appear on the ballot.
Feb. 6 was the presidential candidate withdrawal
deadline in Ohio. Cory Booker is the only candidate who formally withdrew his candidacy in Ohio before that deadline.
“With regard to Cory Booker, we have included notices with people who are voting Democratic ballots and we’ll have notices at the polling locations that a vote cast for Cory Booker won’t be counted,” McDonald said. “So we won’t even report results for him, however, for the other candidates that have suspended their campaigns, people will still be able to vote for them and we’ll still count votes for (those candidates).”
McDonald said their office has received a few calls from people who still had their absentee ballots in their hands wanting to change their votes.
“At that point, if someone had not turned in their absentee ballot, they can have a second ballot reissued,” he said.
However, voters who have submitted their absentee ballots to the elections board already cannot change their votes.
Lake County Elections Board Deputy Director Jan Clair said the fact that this year’s primary election falls on St. Patrick’s Day (March 17) could be driving some of the uptick in early voting over 2016.
Another potential factor could be concerns over coronavirus. Clair said they are taking “precautionary measures over and above” their usual protocols for election day.
“We’re providing sanitizer for every polling location and instructing our workers to wipe down surfaces after each use or as frequent as possible,” McDonald said. “We do encourage voters to take the preventative measures instructed by public health professionals to protect not only themselves, but other people.”
McDonald said the Secretary of State’s Office “has done a nice job of giving us guidance on what we should be doing,” regarding the coronavirus.
He said it was a little hard to find supplies.
“We’re going with the isopropyl alcohol approach on damp rags,” McDonald said. “That’s the approach that does sanitize and is
also safe for our equipment. We had to find that happy medium.”
McDonald added that they’ll also have hand sanitizer for their poll workers to use. Clair said they’re recommending to their polling location officials activate the voting equipment using a stylus instead of constantly touching a screen.
“Common sense approach,” she said.
As of March 3, Lake County had the fifth-highest absentee voting turnout in Ohio, according to the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office. Lake County has the 12th most registered voters in the state.
One reason the county is outpacing its registration rank is because of a full ballot. While the Democratic primary is a big draw, on the Republican side, there are several contested primaries. Even voters who want to vote a non-partisan (issues only) ballot will have something to decide in most instances.
Only the following precincts do not have issues on the March 17 ballot:
No precincts in Mentor-on-the-Lake have issues on the ballot. In Kirtland, only precinct 1A has an issue (a liquor option) on the ballot. Voters in Willoughby 3C on the Kirtland Schools split side do not have issues on the ballot. Concord Township voters in precinct B on the Chardon Schools split side do not have issues on the ballot. Concord precincts D, E, H, J, K also do not have any issues appearing on the ballot. Kirtland Hills AA and Waite Hill AA (Kirtland Schools split side) also do not have issues on the ballot.
In-person early voting hours March 9-13 are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. March 14 hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 15 hours are 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. March 16 hours are 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The Lake County Elections Board is located in the recently expanded Lake County Administration Building 105 Main St. Ste. 107 in Painesville.
There is now also an absentee ballot drop-off box located along the N. Park Place driveway entrance to the new administration building. This will allow for voters to drop off their ballots without having to find parking and enter the building, Clair said.