Absentee ballot applications in Ohio are approaching all-time records. And in most counties, applications from Democrats are leading those from Republicans.
That’s also true of the state’s three largest counties. Ohio Public Radio's Karen Kasler has more.
Hamilton County is the most recent of the largest counties to turn blue, which it did in 2008. Just over half (56 percent) of the absentee ballots in 2016 came from Democratic voters. So far in 2020, two thirds (69 percent) are from Democrats. Franklin has been won by Democrats since 1996 – but in 2016, Republican voters were 56% of all absentee ballots turned in. This time, more than three quarters of absentee requests are from Democrats. The last time Cuyahoga County voted for a Republican for president was in 1972. So far, 80 percent of absentee ballot requests turned in have been from Democrats, and nearly two thirds quarters of all affiliated Democrats in Cuyahoga County have asked for absentee ballots.