Secretary Husted Announces Nearly 1.8 Million Early Ballots Cast Ahead of Presidential Election 

2016 voter election

2016 voter election

COLUMBUS – Just one day ahead of the 2016 Presidential General Election, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted today announced that an estimated 1,798,277 absentee ballots were cast statewide ahead of Election Day. This includes 13,893 ballots cast by military and overseas voters. Voting for military and overseas personnel began on September 24th and all absentee voting began on October 12th, the day after the close of registration.

Voters who have not mailed their ballot before Election Day may still deliver the ballot in-person to their board of elections before the polls close at 7:30pm.

2016 Presidential Election By-the-Numbers

7,861,343 Ohioans are registered to vote.
1,994,911 voters requested an absentee ballot.Of those, 1,798,277 have been cast.
661,549 voters requested and cast an absentee ballot in-person.
22,886 military & overseas voters requested an absentee ballot.Of those, 13,893 have been cast.

If mailed, absentee ballots must have been postmarked by November 7, 2016 and arrive at the board of elections within 10 days of Election Day in order to be counted. Ohio is only one of 12 states to allow late-arriving ballots to be counted.

If you have not mailed your ballot prior to election week, the Secretary of State’s Office recommends voters take their completed ballot to the post office and request it receive a postage cancellation marking, or return it personally to their county board of elections prior to the close of the polls at 7:30pm on Election Day.

Just one day ahead of the 2012 Presidential Election, nearly 2 million absentee ballots had been requested with nearly 1.8 million ballots having been already cast (see November 5, 2016 release). That year marked the first-ever statewide mailing of absentee ballot applications and voters who took advantage of this option represented a third of all ballots cast in that election – a record 1.87 million absentee ballots were cast by mail and in person.