COLUMBUS, Ohio — One week out from Election Day, Ohioans continue to show up in record numbers for early voting.
Currently, 2.2 million Ohioans have already cast their ballot for the general election. Only 1.9 million Ohioans voted early in-person or by mail for the entirety of the 2016 general election.
At this time, Ohioans are voting early in-person at two and a half times the number of people at the same time in the 2016 election. In addition, absentee ballots have been returned to the county boards of elections at nearly double the amount in 2016.
According to the office of Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, absentee ballot requests have increased by 430,458 to a total of 3,173,586 requests received by the county boards of election across the state.
"Each week it's a new record - and that's because enthusiastic voters are taking advantage of Ohio's convenient voting opportunities which are some of the best in the nation," said LaRose. "With seven days to go, if you're one of the 841,000 voters who haven't returned your ballot yet, the time is now to mail it in. That's the surefire way to ensure your vote will be a part of the results the nation sees on election night."
As a fun fact, Ohio voters enjoy more early in-person voting hours than voters in 43 other states. At this point, 743,130 Ohioans have voted early in-person. At the same time in the 2016 election, only 288,865 voters had shown up for early in-person voting. Early in-person voting will continue every day through the election, including weekends.