A majority of voters cast ballots early for this year’s general election. Clark County election officials reported that more than 43% of registered voters had cast a ballot before election day. In Champaign County, early voter turnout was similar, with 46% of registered voters casting a ballot before election day.
Voter turnout in Clark and Champaign counties for this election were slightly ahead of numbers reported in 2016.
Overall voter turnout for this year’s election in Clark County was slightly over 70.5%. In Champaign County, that number was slightly greater than 74%.
Most of those votes were counted on election day. However, absentee ballots sent by the mail that were postmarked for Nov. 2 could be counted after election day. Clark County also had about an additional 1,300 provisional ballots that were counted after. Champaign County had 490 provisional ballots, according to its Board of Elections.
In Clark County, every Republican candidate in a contested race on the ballot claimed a victory over their Democratic challenger. The only Democrat on the ballot elected was Susan Brown, the county’s coroner. She faced no challenger.
The average local Republican candidate in Clark County had a more than 20% lead over their opponent for this race, according to the official election results from the Clark County Board of Elections.
Jason Baker, the director of the county’s Board of Elections, said that candidates have until Monday to request a recount. He said there has not been any request to do so as of Friday afternoon.
The Ohio Secretary of State office has stated that boards of elections must complete canvass of Nov. 3 general election ballots no later than Tuesday.
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