With just days away from the General Election Tuesday, Nov. 3, the Logan County Board of Elections continues to offer early voting for county residents, and officials are reporting that the county is breaking records with the number of individuals who are casting these absentee votes.
Thursday, officials shared via the Logan County Board of Election’s Facebook page that the over the 19 days of in-person early voting, the office has averaged 486 votes per day. They also said as of Wednesday evening, absentee voter totals for the county were at 14,610.
The elections board reports that the total number of Logan County registered voters equaling 32,221 is the highest number of registered voters for Logan County in at least six years and around 1,500 more than any of the last three Presidential Elections (2008 – 30,583, 2012 – 30,563, 2016 – 30,684).
“Way to go Logan County! Let’s keep it up,” members said.
The remaining in-person early voting hours at the 225 S. Main St. office are: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31; 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1; and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2. An absentee ballot and application drop box also is available just outside of the office for secure drop off and it is checked each day.
Also earlier this week after 143 hours of early voting, officials said the board of elections staff had served on average, 48 voters per hour, or one voter for every minute and 15 seconds.
“To consider that we only have three check-in stations, those statistics are astounding to us,” members said.
Tuesday, at one week prior to the election, the Board of Elections reported that for the entire county, 12,779 absentees had been returned out of 32,221 registered voters, or 39.66 percent. Here’s a break-down of poling places and their absentee voting numbers:
• Adriel John L. Yoder Center, 1,066 out of 2,221 registered voters, 48 percent;
• Logan County Electric Cooperative, 763 out of 1,655 voters, 46.1 percent;
• Benjamin Logan Middle School, 1,880 out of 4,361 voters, 43.11 percent;
• TRC Rhodes Conference Center, 1,174 out of 2,752 voters, 42.66 percent;
• McArthur Township Building, 578 out of 1,441 voters, 40.11 percent;
• Indian Lake High School, 2,379 out of 6,230 voters, 38.19 percent;
• Bellefontaine High School, 3,359 out of 9,029 voters, 37.2 percent;
• Belle Center Legion, 657 out of 1,801 voters, 36.48 percent; and
• Riverside Elementary School, 923 out of 2,731 voters, 33.8 percent.
Also as of Tuesday, seven of the 36 precincts were more than 50 percent turnout already, and they were: First Ward B (50.22 percent), Second Ward B (50.18 percent), Lake Township (61.21 percent), Liberty Township (55.84 percent), Monroe Township (55.63 percent), Stokes Southeast (57.56 percent), and Union Township (51.51 percent).
Nine other precincts are above 45 percent and will probably be over 50 percent turnout by Election Day, members noted.
For Election Day voters, the elections board announced last month the change in two polling locations because of issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, as previously reported in the Examiner.
The locations that will not being utilized this election are the Hilliker YMCA and Green Hills Foundation Hall. The precincts affected are the City of Bellefontaine’s First Ward A, First Ward B, Second Ward A, Second Ward B, along with Liberty Township and West Liberty.
The new location for First Ward A, First Ward B, Second Ward A, and Second Ward B is the Bellefontaine High School’s Auxiliary Gym, 555 E. Lake Ave., Bellefontaine. Voters in the Third Ward A, Third Ward B, Fourth Ward A and Fourth Ward B also vote at this location.
The new polling location for Liberty Township and West Liberty is the Adriel John L. Yoder Center, 500 N. Detroit St., West Liberty.