Ohio's early vote turnout at record pace, tripling 2016 tallies

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Early voter turnout in Ohio is already at a record pace in the key battleground state, with three times as many residents casting ballots in the first week of voting compared to the same time in 2016.

A total of 193,021 Ohio residents cast early in-person ballots last week after elections centers opened on Oct. 6, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office announced on Wednesday. By comparison, just 64,312 voted early in-person during the same week in 2016.

OHIO VOTERS WILL ACCEPT STATE'S ELECTION RESULTS AS LEGITIMATE, LAROSE SAYS

“Voter enthusiasm is off the charts and we couldn’t be happier,” LaRose said in a statement. “We’ve never seen this many people voting early in-person and it demonstrates what Ohioans know to be true - it’s easy to vote in the Buckeye State!”

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Elections officials also reported a surge in mail-in ballot application requests amid public health concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly 2.5 million Ohio residents requested applications as of this week or about double the amount that were requested at this point in the 2016 election cycle.

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In an interview with Fox News earlier this month, LaRose warned that it could take weeks for elections officials to tabulate all the mail-in ballots and certify a final result. He added that any shift in vote tallies post-Election Day should not be taken as a sign of “something nefarious.”

Ohio accounts for 18 electoral votes and is considered a key battleground state for the 2020 election. Recent polls showed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden with a slight edge over President Trump, who won the state by an eight-point margin in 2016.