On the first day of early voting and with just four weeks until Election Day, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced 2,154,235 absentee ballot applications have been received by county boards of elections statewide.

This includes 21,570 requests from military and overseas voters whose absentee ballots began to be mailed Sept. 18.

All other absentee ballots were mailed on Oct. 6. Over the past week, 158,839 new absentee ballot requests were submitted by Ohio voters. Totals from early in-person voting will be included in next week’s release.

At the same time during the 2016 election, 1,091,188 absentee ballots had been requested. All data is current as of Oct. 2.

Voters who have requested an absentee ballot but choose to vote on election day must vote by provisional ballot. However, those Ohioans who have requested an absentee ballot but choose to vote early in-person will not be required to vote by provisional ballot solely based on the fact that they requested an absentee ballot. 

“A record number of Ohioans have requested an absentee ballot and soon they will see that ballot arrive in their mailbox,” said LaRose. “The clock has started, so don’t wait to return it. Make sure your voice is heard.”

Of the 42 states that run a traditional absentee voting system, a comprehensive review by the Brookings Institute determined no state does it better than Ohio. SOURCE: www.brookings.edu/research/voting-by-mail-in-a-pandemic-a-state-by-state...

Ohioans can learn more about absentee voting at VoteOhio.gov.