Montgomery County election officials are projecting a turnout potentially exceeding 20% of the registered voter population for this Aug. 8 special election.
“The voters in Montgomery County are seeing an important issue before them and coming out to vote,” said Montgomery County Board of Elections Director Jeff Rezabek during a Monday election board meeting.
Robust early, absentee turnout
Rezabek called early voting leading up to the Aug. 8 special election “spectacular,” with election officials seeing more than 14,000 people line up to cast a ballot early and in-person.
This figure does not include people who voted early on Saturday and Sunday.
“It’s been great to see so many voters in the building, being so excited to vote,” said Montgomery County Board of Elections Deputy Director Russ Joseph on Monday.
As of Friday, a little more than 70% of the absentee ballots sent off to Montgomery County voters had been returned to the election board.
This is already a higher turnout than the county’s last August election, which saw a turnout of a little more than 5%. But it’s difficult to compare the two races, as one featured no local contested races, while the Aug. 8 election includes an important issue, Rezabek said.
“There’s a lot of energy on both sides,” he said. “Voters have said over and over that this issue matters to them.”
What is Issue 1?
Issue 1 would raise the threshold on all future constitutional amendments to pass to 60%, if passed. The current threshold is a simple majority.
Issue 1 would also require citizen-initiated amendments to reach signature-gathering quotas from all 88 Ohio counties. Currently signatures are required from 44 counties.
In addition, Issue 1 if passed would remove the cure period, which allows petitioners 10 days to gather more signatures in the event that the Secretary of State finds that a petition fell below the necessary quota after signatures were verified.
A “Yes” vote on Issue 1 approves all of the proposed changes, while a “No” vote denies them. Issue 1 needs a simple majority of voters to approve it for it to pass.
Issue 1 precedes the Nov. 7 election, which is expected to feature an abortion-rights amendment.
An unplanned August election
A law that went info effect this year eliminated most August special elections after state lawmakers criticized them as costly and drawing too few voters. Lawmakers then created a special election for Issue 1 after after county election boards approved their annual budgets.
The state budget included a provision that will reimburse county election boards for the costs of the August election, Rezabek said. Typically, elections in Montgomery County cost $600,000 or more.
Montgomery County election board officials had little issue securing poll workers for the Aug. 8 special election, and polling locations saw little change across the county.
“The naysayers said August elections were a waste of time and money,” Rezabek said. “But if a ballot contains issues that matter to voters, they’ll come.”
Reminders for Election Day voters
League of Women Voters of the Greater Dayton Area director Christine Corba on Monday encouraged registered voters to cast their ballots in-person on Election Day.
All voters casting a ballot in-person need a state-issued photo ID — like a driver’s license or state ID card.
Voters who do not have an ID can vote provisionally. This process has a four-day cure period to prove identification with a photo ID.
Absentee ballots also needed to be postmarked by Monday. The drop box at the election board office can be used by voters until 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Corba said.
Rezabek advised that Election Day voters also double-check their polling locations on the election board’s website. Voters cannot cast a ballot at the election board office on Tuesday.
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