Early voting numbers are in, and are higher compared to past midterms.
Hamilton, Butler, Warren and Clermont counties in Southwest Ohio all saw more people voting early in-person compared to four years ago. Boone County in Kentucky saw record-breaking numbers that are comparable to a presidential election.
Northern Kentucky
In recent years, Kentucky law changed to allow early in-person voting — and the number of early voters is higher this year than in past midterms.
Boone County Clerk Justin Criegler said clerks throughout the state are reporting higher numbers.
“It is a much higher turnout throughout the state, but in Boone County, it's rising to the presidential level,” said Boone County Clerk Justin Criegler. He says about 10.1% of Boone County registered voters voted early, either by mail or in-person.
Kenton County voter registration numbers are similar to last midterm’s numbers in 2022, but early voting numbers are also up. Clerk Gabrielle Summe said most people in Kenton County still vote in-person, so she still expects the number of total voters to be higher compared to past midterms.
"I think people do have a little bit of election fatigue, but at the same time, they realize that [these] kinds of races are important all the way down to your school boards and your city councils,” Summe said.
Campbell County also saw a large increase in early voters compared to the last midterm election in 2022. County Clerk Jim Luersen says there were about 5,163 early voters in the county in 2022 while this year the county had 8,042 total early voters — about 10% of the total registered voters.
Boone County voters can visit the clerk’s website to find their precinct. Campbell County voters are directed to the Secretary of State’s voter information center to find your precinct.
“I think there will be a heavier turnout than the typical midterm,” Luersen said. He adds people should have their ID ready and know what’s on the ballot to make voting on Election day go smoothly.
All Kenton County polling locations can print a precinct-specific ballot, so voters can visit any eligible location to cast their vote. Visit the clerk’s website to find a location.
Kentucky polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Hamilton County
More people cast a ballot in-person in Hamilton County during the early voting period this year than four years ago. Elections Director Sherry Poland says about 77,000 people voted early, which is a record for a mid-term election. Poland says more people are voting early in-person than by mail.
"But the majority of Hamilton County voters still cast their ballots on election day," she said. "I think it's too difficult to predict whether our absentee and early voting turnout is an indicator of a higher turnout overall this election. I think we'll all find out together on election night."
Poland says overall, she expects about a 50% turnout in Hamilton County when all is said and done. She says that's on-pace for a midterm election.
Hamilton County has about 616,000 registered voters on the rolls for this midterm election, which she says is a little high. Poland says it's not because there was a surge in new registrations.
"It's more that folks that have moved out and moved away from Hamilton County," she said. "After a six year period they are typically removed from the rolls over the summer months. That process was delayed until January basically because of the timing of when the notices were mailed to those voters four years ago."
Hamilton County has 242 polling locations. Polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Butler County
Unofficial results show Butler County saw a nearly 30% increase in early voting compared to the 2022 midterms. But while in-person voting increased 91%, the share of people voting by mail decreased by 28%, said Board of Elections Deputy Director Eric Corbin.
“It's kind of hard to tell why people didn't want to vote through the mail as much this year,” Corbin said. “The Secretary of State still sent out absentee applications to every voter, and we just got a lot less of them back.”
Corbin said more people voting early will hopefully mean the polls are less crowded on Tuesday. Still, he expects a good showing: Butler County usually sees 50-55% turnout, and the county is already at 23%.
“Our first thing is we just want to tell people when they come to our polling locations [is to] treat our poll workers well,” Corbin said. “They are there to help out, and just please be kind.”
Butler County voters can find their polling location on the Board of Elections’ website.
Warren County
The trend of more in-person early voting continues in Warren County, where Board of Elections Director Brian Sleeth said his office saw more than 32,000 people visit to cast their ballots.
That’s close to double the numbers from 2022, when the county had 18,000 people cast their ballots early in-person.
“This past Sunday — yesterday — we were 200 voters shy of hitting the presidential Sunday, [the] highest Sunday we've ever seen here,” Sleeth said, speaking of the 2024 election. “It was surprising to see how many people were wrapped around our building.”
But fewer Warren County residents are voting by mail compared to 2022: this year, the Board of Elections sent out a little more than 17,000 absentee ballots, compared to nearly 24,000 last midterms.
“I've heard a lot of people that came in talk about the mail and not trusting the mail,” Sleeth said, adding it's hard to gauge why the numbers are changing. “The top of the ticket races are seeing a lot of attention, a lot of mailers. So I can only assume it's that.”
Sleeth said he doesn’t expect overall turnout will be drastically higher than normal. Warren County is on the cusp of 30% turnout already, while historically it’s been between 55-62% on Election Day.
“Check your license before you go out on Tuesday. We have seen in early voting many, many people with expired licenses that decided to leave the line and go to the BMV and come back,” Sleeth added.
Warren County voters can find their polling location on the Board of Elections’ website.
Clermont County
Like others in Southwest Ohio, the Clermont County Board of Elections saw more people voting early in-person compared to by mail this year.
Deputy Director of Elections Chris Dennison said, this year, more than 19,000 Clermont County voters visited the Board of Elections to vote early. That’s a 123% increase from the 8,500 who voted early in-person in 2022.
Dennison also said the county issued just shy of 14,000 ballots by mail this year, but in the 2022 midterms, that number was closer to 18,000.
“With all the media, all the issues reported, the urgency in the voices of candidates and electeds — it seems more necessary in the minds of the electorate to get out and vote,” Dennison said. “I believe people simply wanted to get their vote cast and make sure it was cast.”
He added: “It's also been a very beautiful month, weather-wise, for standing in line.”
Because overall early voting in Clermont County increased 16% compared to 2022, Dennison agnostically predicts overall turnout will be higher this year — perhaps as much as 65% compared to the usual 55%.
Dennison added some people get confused when they learn there is no Election Day voting at the Board of Elections. Clermont County voters can find their polling location on the Board of Elections’ website.
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