Early voting percentage up for 2014 election

January 9, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

COLUMBUS

A higher percentage of voters cast early ballots in person or through the mail for November’s general election compared with four years ago, according to statistics released Thursday by Secretary of State Jon Husted.

Elections officials also rejected fewer provisional ballots compared with the previous gubernatorial contest.

Statewide, about 3.1 million of 7.8 million registered voters cast ballots in November, a turnout rate of about 41 percent. That compares to about 3.9 million of 8 million-plus registered voters, or 49 percent, in 2010 gubernatorial election.

Of the ballots cast in 2014, more than 864,000 (27.5 percent) were submitted through the mail or in person on early-voting days. Most of those (718,925) were mailed.

In 2010, more than 1 million early ballots (26.2 percent) were cast, including 854,000-plus submitted by mail.

According to the secretary of state’s office, 79 of Ohio’s 88 counties saw an increase in the percentage of voters casting absentee ballots.

Also for the November election, more than 49,000 voters cast provisional ballots after their eligibility was questioned. Of that total, 44,528 were counted and 4,734 were rejected. That compares with 2010, when 105,195 provisional ballots were cast, and 93,420 were counted.

The top two reasons for rejecting ballots in both gubernatorial elections were not being registered to vote in Ohio or casting a ballot in the wrong polling location, according to the secretary of state’s office.

State Rep. Kathleen Clyde, D-Kent, a former elections official and attorney who has focused on related issues, voiced concern about the number of absentee and provisional ballots that were rejected — “many for new, minor technical reasons, such as birth date and address errors.”

She added in a released statement, “Voters who were not directed to their correct polling place by the secretary of state’s website or by poll workers had their ballots rejected. Turnout was disappointingly low. Many voters’ ballots were rejected because they were allegedly not registered, but Ohio fails to register voters in accordance with the law and also purges voters unlawfully.”

But Matt McClellan, a spokesman for Husted, countered, “wait times for voters are down; absentee voting is up; we are counting more ballots, and our data is more accurate. This is due to Secretary Husted’s efforts and those of local elections officials to better maintain the voter rolls and make it easier for people to update their voting information. It could be even better with online voter registration, and we urge Rep. Clyde and her colleagues to work with us to get it done.”