Early voting in central Ohio is nearly doubling in most area counties compared to the 2016 election, but is lagging behind the 2020 election, when many people voted absentee because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Franklin, Licking, Fairfield, Pickaway, Madison, Union and Delaware counties are all seeing a high volume of early and absentee voting. So far, that amounts to at least 59,081 total voters since early voting began last week on Oct. 8.
In 2016, there were at least 24,162 early voters in the same central Ohio counties. Fairfield County did not have 2016 or 2020 numbers immediately available, and Franklin County did not have its 2020 number available.
In 2020, early voting totals were higher for the other five counties that did provide data for that year. So far in 2024, none have reached the 2020 levels of early voting.
Franklin County alone with just the early in-person voting numbers accounts for about half of central Ohio's early vote total with 25,628 people voting early.
Franklin County Board of Elections spokesman Aaron Sellers said the county has also seen an additional 4,000 mail-in ballots get processed and another 10,000 have been returned and are waiting to be processed. Unlike the other counties, Franklin County did not include the mail-in ballots in the totals given to WOSU.
Sellers said it is hard to compare 2020 early voting turnout to any other year because of the pandemic.
"Anything in trying to compare with 2020, it's kind of apples and oranges, just because of the all the issues with COVID and that kind of stuff," Sellers said. "I would tell you that it looks to me seven days into the early vote cycle that that we are kind of getting back to, you know, a so-called and I'm using air quotes, a normal presidential election cycle."
Sellers said a "normal presidential cycle" would look like a 60% to 40% split of people choosing to vote on Election Day vs. choosing to vote early.
The number of early voters are only expected to grow as Election Day gets closer. Sellers and Licking County Board of Elections Director Brian Mead said the final days of early voting typically see a higher number of people turning out to the polls.
Mead said he encourages people to get to the polls early so election workers aren't overwhelmed on the final days of early voting.
"That last week is really when we'll get hit. If you can tell anybody, you know, don't wait till the last week. Come next week and all that," Mead said.
Mead said rural conservative counties have residents who are more skeptical of early voting by mail, but people of all kinds are becoming more receptive of voting early in-person since the same technology is used.
Mead and Sellers said a lot of people who voted absentee by mail in 2020 may be moving back to voting in person on Election Day.
Early voting runs until Sunday, Nov. 3 before Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5. All 88 county boards of elections in Ohio are open every week day. Each will provide expanded voting hours, including on weekends, closer to Election Day.
