43
Early voting begins Tuesday in Ohio
YOUNGSTOWN
Ohioans wanting to vote early in the primary can start doing so Tuesday.
But elections officials in Mahoning and Columbiana counties don’t anticipate a lot of early voters for this primary compared with 2008, the last presidential-primary year.
“We’re not expecting a large turnout,” said Joyce Kale-Pesta, deputy director of the Mahoning County Board of Elections. “People haven’t thought about voting yet.”
The presidential race drives primary-voter turnout, election officials say.
With President Barack Obama running unopposed on the Democratic side — the Mahoning Valley is one of the strongest Democratic regions of the state — that will keep turnout down for the March 6 primary, local election officials say.
“The [county] prosecutor’s race will drive people to vote early,” Kale-Pesta said, but not like a presidential contest.
In the 2008 primary, Mahoning County had 16,017 early voters.
Kale-Pesta expects about 5,000 for this primary.
Besides prosecutor in Mahoning County, there are competitive primaries for two county commissioner seats, county sheriff and the 6th Congressional District as well as five tax issues.
If Tuesday’s Republican presidential primary in Florida shows a tight race, it could increase turnout on the GOP side.
The only other races, besides the Republican presidential primary, on the statewide ballot with more than one candidate are for the GOP’s U.S. Senate nomination and two Democrats running for one state Supreme Court justice spot.
In Columbiana County, the only contested primaries are for county recorder and for the 6th Congressional District.
There are also four issues on the ballot in the county with one of them being in a lone precinct for an Alliance school tax levy, said Adam Booth, director of the Columbiana County Board of Elections.
“I’m not expecting huge numbers,” he said. “There’s nothing glamorous on the ballot to bring out voters.”
There were about 2,000 early voters in Columbiana County in the 2008 primary. Booth said it’s doubtful that many will vote in the March 6 primary.
Even with only competitive races for sheriff and a state House seat as well as seven tax issues on the primary ballot in Trumbull County, Kelly Pallante, board of elections director, expects early-voting turnout to be better than in 2008.
About 15,000 early voters are expected for this primary, she said.
In 2008, there were 9,521 early voters with 7,800 being Democrats, 1,645 Republicans and 76 who voted only issues.
“Some school issues might generate interest,” she said.
But it’s more than that, Pallante said.
Early voting “is the growing trend as to how people vote,” she said.
Kale-Pesta agrees that “people like early voting, and they are used to it.”
But without a Democratic presidential primary, Kale-Pesta still doesn’t expect it to be nearly as busy as it was in 2008 when Obama faced Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination.