The Brown County Board of Elections hosted 127 early voters in less than four hours on the first day of early voting in Ohio.
“It’s the busiest I have ever seen it in here today,” said BOE Director Connie Ayers.
The office also mailed out 4557 absentee ballots that had been requested on the first day that they could be placed in the mail. Ayers said that is the highest one day total mailout that she has ever seen in an election and more than double the usual absentee ballot request rate.
“In our last general election in 2016, we had a 70 percent turnout. I think the turnout this time will be higher than that, possibly as high as 80 percent,” Ayers said.
She added that public health precautions are in place in the age of COVID-19.
“When people come in to vote, we do ask that they wear a mask. If they don’t want to wear a mask, we ask that they participate in curbside voting,” Ayers said.
Curbside voting entails having a voter call the posted phone number outside the Board of Elections office at 800 Mt. Orab Pike in Georgetown. Ayers said that a democrat and republican representative will bring a ballot out to the persons car. Once the person votes, the ballot is placed in a sealed envelope and both people take the ballot back inside to be secured for counting.
“We have hand sanitizer and masks available as well as disposable styluses so voters don’t have to worry about someone else using the touch screen. We also clean the voting machines after each use,” Ayers added.
Early voting is available at the Brown County Board of Elections Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until five p.m. through October 16.
Voting will be available every day beginning October 19, with the BOE office open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. October 19-23, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, October 24 and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday October 25.
Beginning October 26, the BOE office will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Saturday October 31 and from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. on Sunday, November 1.
On Monday, November 2, the BOE office will be open from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. The next day is election day, Tuesday, November 3.
Absentee ballots can be requested until October 31. To be counted, the ballot must be postmarked no later than November 2. They can be physically taken to the Board of Elections through election day.
Ayers also said that while early and absentee voting would be taking place over the next month or so, those votes will not be counted until after the polls close on election day, November 3.