Election 2022: Early voting up compared to this point in 2018

With the election less than a week away, early voting is up in Ohio compared to 2018.

Ohioans have cast almost 50% more early in-person ballots this year than a week before the 2018 election, according to figures released Tuesday by the Ohio Secretary of State's office.

As of Tuesday, 265,062 people across the state have voted early in-person — 88,016 more than had voted early a week before the statewide gubernatorial election in 2018. Overall, 817,644 ballots have been cast in Ohio so far, an 11% increase from this point in 2018.

Absentee mail-in ballot requests, however, are down across the state. Ohioans have requested 978,443 absentee ballots so far, 5.4% fewer than in 2018.

Much of the state's increase in early voting numbers can be attributed to a higher early voter turnout in urban counties.

Voters in Hamilton County have cast almost twice as many early ballots than they had a week before the 2018 election.

Ohioans have also voted early at a higher rate this year than a week before the 2018 election in Cuyahoga, Franklin, Montgomery, Stark and Summit counties, according to the Ohio Secretary of State's office.

A full county-by-county breakdown and comparison can be found on the Secretary of State's website.

The deadline to request an absentee ballot is Nov. 5, three days before the election. Mailed absentee ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 7, and received by a county board of elections by Nov. 18.

The U.S. Postal Service estimates that it may take two to five days for mailed ballots to be delivered. Ohioans are responsible for covering postage when returning absentee ballots in the mail — no more than two "Forever stamps" covers the return.

Any ballot mailed without sufficient postage will still be delivered. The U.S. Postal Service's policy is not to delay the delivery of a completed absentee ballot because of insufficient or unpaid postage, and often, county boards of elections foot the bill for unpaid postage.

Once your ballot is in the mail, you can track it at voteohio.gov/track.

Absentee ballots can also be delivered in-person to county boards of elections until polls close at 7:30 p.m. on Election Day.

Early voting at Ohio's 88 county boards of elections offices ends at 2 p.m., Monday, Nov. 7. See below for the list of remaining early in-person voting hours:

• Nov. 3-4: 8 a.m.-7 p.m.

• Nov. 5: 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

• Nov. 6: 1-5 p.m.

• Nov. 7: 8 a.m.-2 p.m.

Nolan Simmons is a fellow in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism's Statehouse News Bureau.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: In-person voting way up in Ohio; absentee requests down from 2018