Local Early Voting Setting Records: 'Many Have Made Their Decision'

Local election boards say lots of people are casting their ballots early this year. Campbell County Clerk Jim Luersen points out this is the first general election in Kentucky that's had early voting and it's been non-stop for his office since the doors opened Oct. 13.

Luersen says voters are concerned about the pandemic, want to beat a possible rush on Election Day, and know who they are voting for.

"It's probably a combination of all three of those," he says. "I think they don't know what's going to happen on Election Day, so they want to make sure they get into to vote ahead of time. They think it may be too crowded on Election Day, although in Campbell County we'll have almost all of our polling places open, so shouldn't be a problem. I think people just like the idea of being able to get in, vote early, and that way they have it finished."

Campbell County sent out about 12,500 absentee ballots. Of those, 9,500 had been returned as of midday Monday, and more than 10,000 people had already voted in person.

Hamilton County is breaking records according to Election Board Director Sherry Poland. "I think many of them have made their decision and there's no need to wait. They're coming and getting it done early."

Poland says a lot more people are dropping their ballots off than in previous years, but the majority of the nearly 225,000 who requested a ballot are still mailing it back.

"Seventy-five percent of the voters who had requested a ballot by mail have already returned their ballot to the board of elections," she says.

Through the weekend, nearly 46,000 people have voted in-person at the board offices in Norwood.

Other numbers (through Monday):

County           Requested    Returned    In-Person     Total Registered

Butler                     56,445          39,049          37,425                 256,922

Hamilton               224,863        178,773        45,993                 600,197

Warren                   48,610          37,050          25,181                  167,800

Boone                     17,000+       10-11,000     1,500+ daily       @110,000*

Campbell               @12,500       @9,500         10,000+              @76,000

Dearborn               2,854             2,322             4,717                    39,771

* @ depicts estimated.

This story was updated 10-27-20 to add numbers from Dearborn County as of Tuesday.

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