Just over a week before the official election day, more than a million Ohioans have voted or requested a mail-in ballot. If you compare this year’s early voting to early voting in the last mid-term election, 40,000 more ballots have been cast.
On this week's episode of Snollygoster, Ohio's politics podcast from WOSU, hosts Mike Thompson and Steve Brown discuss what this trend means for each party.
Why are Ohio polls so flawed?
Election results for governor and president have overestimated Ohio Democratic support by at least six points over the last eight years. So given that, what can we glean from the latest polling on the Senate race?
Three polls are out since our last episode. Siena College has Tim Ryan and J.D. Vance tied at 46% each. Marist College has Vance up by one point. The Cygnal poll has Vance up by four points, the same lead he had last week. The website FiveThirtyEight has Vance leading by 1.7 points.
Ryan is going to have to have a very good turnout. Perhaps an appearance
on FOX News would help.
Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today
Early voting began on Oct. 12 and many thousands of Ohioans are taking advantage of that option.
In general, Democrats tend to favor in-person voting. A cleveland.com analysis found requests for absentee ballots in Cleveland and Columbus down about 9%. These counties are heavily democratic.
Early voting is up in suburban counties. Those communities have been traditional Republican strongholds, but have been swinging toward Democrats during the Trump years.
In the end, maybe people just like the convenience of voting early.
Some facts to know:
You can request an absentee ballot up until November 5.
The mailed-in ballots must be postmarked by November 7. You should put two stamps on the return ballot just in case. You can also return your absentee ballot in person on election day, but only at your county board of elections office.
Early in-person voting is held only at your county board of elections office. The deadline for early person voting is 2 p.m. on November 7, the day before Election Day.
For more information on the election, check out WOSU's 2022 Ohio Voter Guide.
Snollygoster of the week
Some groups try to "get out the vote" and others do something else.
One group of Republican election deniers there telling people with mail-in absentee ballots that they can drop them off at their polling places. That is not true!
Meanwhile in Granville, northeast of Columbus, there are flyers and ads telling Dennison University students not to vote in Granville this November.
The Newark Advocate reports there are signs on and near the Dennison campus telling students to vote where they pay taxes and request an absentee ballot from home or register to pay Granville income tax.
All students who work in town do pay the tax.
If you have a suggestion for our Snollygoster of the Week award, a question or a comment, send them to snollygoster@wosu.org.
