Figures likely to show record turnout of voters

Only five additional votes were cast in precincts that were kept open late.

COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio voters turned out in heavy numbers despite severe weather problems across the state, and polling in two Ohio counties went into overtime Tuesday night.

A federal judge ordered the Cuyahoga County board of elections to keep 21 Cleveland precincts open until 9 p.m. after hearing arguments from the Barack Obama campaign, which opposed Hillary Rodham Clinton in a pivotal Democratic presidential primary.

Officials in several counties around the state scrambled to accommodate more Democratic primary voters than usual.

“This was a real phenomenon this year,” Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said of the Clinton-Obama race’s impact on turnout.

The extended Cuyahoga voting was ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Solomon Oliver in Cleveland, who cited information that the precincts ran out of ballots and that “voters may have been deprived of an opportunity to vote as a result.”

Brunner appealed the ruling, saying the Obama campaign was picking precincts favorable to it for extended voting. She said there were no indications from local election officials that any voters were turned away due to a lack of ballots.

But she said only five additional votes were cast in the Cuyahoga precincts that were open late. The judge’s order didn’t come until shortly after 8 p.m., Brunner said. The polls had closed as scheduled at 7:30 p.m., and a few of the polling locations that were ordered to stay open weren’t able to open again.

The Obama campaign unsuccessfully sought an extension in Franklin County, where Columbus is.

Another judge granted Brunner’s request to hold open the polls in Sandusky County an extra 90 minutes because a number of precincts in the northwest Ohio county ran out of paper ballots, forcing election workers to turn away 300 to 400 people.

Brunner expected a record turnout, anywhere from 45 percent to 52 percent, when all votes were tallied, despite sleet, snow, freezing rain and heavy rains around the state.