LaRose says 2024 could break voter turnout records

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) – What happens when you add a historic presidential race, a neck-and-neck race that could determine the future balance of the U.S. Senate, three Ohio Supreme Court races that significantly shift the center of gravity of that court could be postponed, and a proposed constitutional amendment that needs to be deleted? Politicians from the redistribution process? High voter turnout is the answer so far.

More than 2.5 million voters have already voted early. And Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose said this election could set a record for the highest number of voters in the state's history.

There is potential for high voter turnout

“I think we could be on track to break the all-time record if there is a big turnout on Election Day,” LaRose said. “5.8 (million) was that turnout record in 2020 and that’s great news.”

Long lines were reported at many locations, particularly during the two weekends of early voting, as there is only one location in each county and 61% of early ballots were cast in person. More Republican-affiliated voters cast their ballots earlier than Democratic voters, even though the vast majority are not affiliated with the party. That number means 30% of Ohio's 8.1 million registered voters have already voted. The percentage record was set in 1992 with a turnout of 77% or 5,043,094 votes.

LaRose said he has special teams dedicated to finding and eliminating false information and legal teams dealing with illegal activities. And he said they deal with the day-to-day issues that arise in every general election.

“There could be 200 to 300 different problems – a power outage, a traffic jam, maybe a piece of equipment that isn't working properly or a poll worker not following their training.” When these things come up, we can quickly investigate and respond to them solve the problem,” LaRose said.

What to expect on election day

Comments from some local sheriffs have raised concerns among some voters. Lt. Clark County Sheriff John Rogers posted on Facebook that he wanted evidence of who someone voted for before helping them and that he would not help Democrats. And a few weeks ago, the Portage County Board of Elections announced it would not include the sheriff's department in its security plan after Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski suggested on Facebook that residents mark addresses with signs of Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris.

Asked whether he had concerns about whether voters would be protected in areas where police officers have made intimidating comments, LaRose said he believes they will fulfill their duty to ensure voter safety on Election Day.

“That is their responsibility and I have every confidence that they will do that. God forbid that didn't happen. Then we would work with other law enforcement agencies and, as necessary, with the State Patrol and state partners to ensure that this law is properly enforced at that polling place or board of elections,” LaRose said. “I don’t expect that to happen.”

LaRose said there haven't been many problems with voters providing false identification. He said naturalized citizens should have a driver's license or ID that reflects their citizenship or bring their citizenship papers to vote. There were lawsuits over this policy, but LaRose won. Naturalized citizens who vote without this ID will be offered a provisional ballot that they may cast with proper ID before Saturday, November 9th.

What to wear when choosing

If you're thinking about wearing a shirt or hat with your favorite candidate's name on it, think again. LaRose said anyone wearing clothing that has a candidate's name on it or clothing that urges voters to accept or reject a ballot will be asked to remove the offending article of clothing. It's part of a policy LaRose recently gave to local election boards. However, if a voter carries such an item and refuses to remove it, that voter will be permitted to vote and his/her name will be provided to a BOE official for possible future follow-up.

The forecast for Election Day calls for warm weather. Voter support groups might be tempted to hand out cold water or baked goods to someone waiting in line. LaRose pointed out that the law says voters cannot be offered items in exchange for their vote for or against a candidate or issue, but it would be fine to offer voters a bottle of water with no strings attached because it is “an act human kindness”.

What to expect on election night

Once the polls close at 7:30 p.m., mail-in ballots will be counted immediately, LaRose said.

“We pre-processed the mail-in ballots as soon as they were received. What does that mean? That means a bipartisan team has cut open the envelope. “They looked at the security envelope to identify the first name, middle name, last name, date of birth, address, last four social records, state driver’s license number and match the signatures,” LaRose said. “These bipartisan teams go through this process to prove that this voter is actually who they say they are. Then they remove the identity from the ballot.”

LaRose said ballots would be loaded into machines and counted. However, the final results of the presidential race could be uncertain because votes from other states are counted differently than Ohio.

Confirmation of the vote

LaRose said he believes Ohioans know the outcome of most races before they go to bed.

The preliminary vote will be released before his office staff leaves office. This number changes as postal ballots are received. And after the first vote, the paper ballots themselves are counted again to ensure they match those compiled by computers on election night.

About three weeks after the election, LaRose said local election boards would certify the results, send them to his office and he would release the certified totals. There has been much talk about situations in other states where county election officials have failed to certify elections. LaRose said he doesn't expect that to happen in Ohio. However, if that is the case, he said, the state has options.

“We could get a court order telling them that they have to do this, that there are penalties if they don't do it and that they could be charged with contempt,” LaRose said.

LaRose said if there are ties in local races, a coin toss is used to determine the winner, which has happened before.

Polls open at 6:30 a.m.