The final early voting numbers before Election Day are in, and Ohio saw larger turnout through absentee ballots than in the last gubernatorial primary.
It’s easy to guess that this year’s hotly contested races for the Republican and Democratic nomination for governor has led to the bigger turnout from voters.
According to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office, more than 260,000 people cast absentee ballots, either by mail or in-person. That’s an increase of about 60,000 people compared to 2014, when there weren't any competitive races for either party on the primary ballot.
Democrats, who are deciding among six candidates for governor, cast more than 132,000 ballots, while Republicans, who have races for governor and U.S. Senator on their statewide ballots, cast 113,000 absentee votes.
Just under 14,000 people cast non-partisan ballots, and over 400 people cast Green Party ballots.
Ohio also have a total of 479 local issues to vote on, as well as Issue 1, a statewide ballot issue on Congressional redistricting reform.
Absentee ballots are the first to be counted when the polls close at 7:30 p.m. Turnout is likely to be less than 30 percent.
