With less than three weeks to go until Election Day, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose toured the early voting center in West Toledo on Wednesday, highlighting the bipartisan effort that takes place to make elections happen.
“It's always important to note that it’s half Republicans and half Democrats, and they work really well together to perform this vital function for our society,” Mr. LaRose said during his visit to the Lucas County Board of Elections office. “In a time where it feels like in Washington, Republicans and Democrats can’t agree what day of the week it is, this is a completely bipartisan operation here, and this is just one of 88 around the state.”
Election Day is Nov. 8.
It’s just the second election that the new early voting center at 3737 W. Sylvania Ave. has played host to, and it's the first time the location has been used for a general election. Mr. LaRose said that having the board office, early voting center, and warehouse all on one property is a “big improvement” for the county.
“Lucas County as an urban board of elections is doing a good job of growing and improving just like any organization that there have been problems in the past, but they’ve learned from those,” Mr. LaRose said. “And the good thing that the Lucas County team has been doing here is learning from some of those issues they’ve faced in the past, and they’ve become a much stronger board from it.”
During his tour, he showed how places like Lucas County’s board have made a strong effort to ensure safe and secure elections in a collaborative manner. He pointed out one door that required badges from both a Democratic and Republican board worker to access. In the warehouse, he showed how difficult election machines are to tamper with and how they are stored in a secure manner.
He met with poll workers, volunteers, and booth officials from both parties and also highlighted how Lucas County has even implemented practices like curbside voting to make it more accessible.
For the first week, early voter turnout has been going well, Lucas County Board of Elections Director LaVera Scott said. Since early voting opened on Oct. 12, the county has had more than 2,700 early voters and were likely to pass 3,000 by the time polls closed on Wednesday. In addition, the county has had more than 28,000 absentee ballot requests.
“The numbers definitely are reflecting that the people want to come out and vote,” she said.
Wood County Board of Elections Director Terry Burton said that as of Wednesday afternoon, 1,443 residents have voted early and another 9,000 have asked for absentee ballots.
Numbers released by Mr. LaRose's office on Tuesday show that 871,341 Ohioans have requested absentee ballots and 71,764 have voted early. The combined total for early voting is up 2.7 percent compared to the 2018 gubernatorial election so far.
Mr. LaRose, a Republican, is running for a second term Nov. 8.
He has sent the message that Ohio is one of the safest and most accessible states to vote in, no matter if a voter chooses to vote by mail, early in-person, or on Election Day.
According to statistics provided by his office, Ohio is just one of 19 states that has early voting days on weekends, and that the state’s early voting period is 21 percent higher than the national average.
“We’ve achieved this balance in Ohio where it’s easy to vote and it’s hard to cheat,” Mr. LaRose said. “That’s something that Democrats and Republicans should both want. We want to know that the election is honest, that voter fraud is exceedingly rare, which it is. We also want to know that it's convenient and accessible.”
First Published October 19, 2022, 9:57 p.m.
