Early voting 'numbers boom’ at Hamilton County Board of Elections despite rainy weather, leaders say

CINCINNATI (FOX19) - A little bit of rainy weather did not stop voters from casting their ballots Monday.

Ohio is nearly two weeks into early voting and leaders at the Hamilton County Board of Elections say numbers are booming.

“It’s been going great. We’ve had a steady flow of voters every day that we’ve been open for voting,” Director of the Hamilton County Board of Elections Sherry Poland said.

Poland says the board of elections is seeing around 2,500 people per day, and there have been more than 25,000 voters since Oct. 6.

Officials say an added collection site was partially the reason why the numbers are up.

“When they come up, we usually put our dropbox on the edge of the car and just tell thanks for voting or have a good day and then they go on their way,” said Board of Elections employee Madison Conley.

“We’ve received over 176,000 requests for mail-in ballots, and 96,000 have already returned their ballots, so that’s great,” Poland said.

Even in the pouring rain, voters made their way in and out of the parking lot.

“It was no problem. It was easy. There was no line. It took five minutes,” voter Jane Cooney said.

The collection site will be up from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and they’ll be matching the times of early voting, which will be extended next week.

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