So-called off-year elections typically don't draw a lot of people to the polls. That doesn't appear to be the case in Cincinnati and Ohio this year. Hamilton County Deputy Director of Elections Alex Linser says turnout before the final weekend of early voting looked more like an even-year election.
"In Ohio, we have two very contentious statewide issues," he says, referring to Issue 1, on reproductive rights, and Issue 2, on legalizing marijuana. "They are about two of the hottest topics in American politics, and we're seeing a lot of participation as a result of that. Not to discount the many local issues. There's a lot of local tax levies and some pretty big charter amendments in the city of Cincinnati, and there's a lot of activity around those issues as well."
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Sunday was the last day for early, in-person voting in Ohio, and more people voted early this year in Hamilton County than in the last off-year election. Linser says as of Thursday, more than three times as many people had cast a ballot compared with the 2021 election. But he still expects polling places will be busy on Election Day.
"Typically, 70% of the total vote will come in on Election Day," he says. "So based on what we've seen so far, we're forecasting turnout to be somewhere in the mid-40 percents, so probably 45%, maybe as high as 50% turnout."
Linser says turnout is usually between 20% and 30% in an odd-year election.
Polls are open for in-person voting Tuesday from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and the window is still open to turn in your absentee ballot, he adds.
"Voters who have requested a vote-by-mail ballot, if they still have it in their possession on Monday, they have to get a stamp on that and get that into a post office by the end of the day Monday," he says. "If you don't get it postmarked on Monday, you can still bring it to the Board of Elections and drop it in our drop-box up until 7:30 p.m. on the day the polls close."
Meanwhile in Kentucky...
Kenton County's Clerk is expecting a lighter turnout for this off-year election than the last one. Gabrielle Summe says she's only expecting about 26% of registered voters to turn out. Other than state offices, there isn't a lot on the ballot.
"We do have some unexpired terms for some school boards, but they didn't have any competition, so as long as they vote for themselves, they'll get that position," she says. "There is a contested city council, unexpired race in Ludlow that will bring out a lot of people in that neighborhood."
Summe says some people may not even be aware there's an election.
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"We don't have a lot of the statewide candidates do a lot of campaigning here, because our media here is so much more expensive than it is in other parts of the state,” she says. "So while they have a lot of physical presence here, they don't put a lot of pen to paper, or a lot of commercials here because of the expense."
Polls are open in Kentucky from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., local time, on Tuesday.
