Early voting began this week in Ohio. Issue 1, which would make it much more difficult for citizens to amend the state constitution, is the only thing on the ballot. And Ohioans seem enthusiastic about shooting Issue 1 down. According to the Columbus Dispatch:
Just before noon Friday, 76 people waited outside the Franklin County Board of Elections building to cast an early vote. As of Friday morning, 4,399 county residents had already voted early. Of them, 3,058 are registered Democrat, as compared to 553 Republican and 788 Independent.
"Pretty much every day, we've had 1,400-plus voters," said Franklin County Board of Elections public information officer Aaron Sellers.
Given the attention that Issue 1 has drawn, Sellers and his colleagues anticipated a big showing of early voters. But this has been more than a big showing.
"I would say that so far, voting numbers have exceeded what we expected," Sellers said. "We've been impressed with the turnout."
And Friday's lines looked like the longest yet, he said.
As of 8 a.m. Friday, the Franklin County Board of Elections had also sent out 13,205 absentee ballots.
Granted, Franklin County is the state’s most populous and also leans strongly Democratic, but the numbers from other urban counties are also encouraging. Election day is August 8.
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