File photo of early voters at the Franklin County Board of Elections. (Photo by Marty Schladen, Ohio Capital Journal.)

Ohio’s Democratic strongholds are outperforming previous early voting records, but the counties that voted for former President Donald Trump in 2020 are ahead in ballots returned.

Two weeks of early voting down, about two weeks to go until election day.

“I came out early to make sure I got in, make sure I voted,” Akron voter Lynda Smith said.

Smith is one of the tens of thousands of early voters in Summit County. Roughly 850,000 Ohioans have cast ballots across the state.

We looked into where those voters are from.

Data analysis

This data was calculated by using statewide and county data through online systems or requests from local officials. When we reference early voting, unless stated otherwise, it includes both early in-person voting and mail-in ballots. The numbers have been rounded for clarity.

We found that the most populated counties, typically the Democratic strongholds, had the most voters per county.

As of the morning of the 15th day until the election, Oct. 21, Franklin County has the highest voter turnout so far — with about 77,000 ballots cast. They voted for President Joe Biden 65-33% over Trump.

Cuyahoga comes next with 72,000. The bluest part of the state, they voted for Biden 66.5-32%.

Then Hamilton with 62,000. They voted for Biden 57-41%.

Summit follows with 32,000. They voted for Biden 54-44%

And fifth is Montgomery, with 29,000. They voted for Biden 50-48%.

Lucas placed 10th with 22,000. They voted for Biden 58-41%.

Each one of these counties played a huge role in the 2023 elections on social causes — helping to protect access to abortion, legalize recreational marijuana and safeguard voting rights.

Elections experts say that Democrats are typically the ones who vote early. But Republican politicians are trying to change that.

“You can absolutely trust this process,” Bernie Moreno, the GOP candidate for U.S. Senate, said. “Look, Republicans are going to turn out in a big way in early voting.”

And it could be working. We calculated the number of early votes from the counties that Trump won in 2020, which is 81 counties out of 88. It totals to roughly 550,000, which is about 65% of the early votes.

That isn’t to say that everyone voting in those counties is voting for Trump — it could be the Democrats that live there that are voting early. But the ruby red counties, like Putnam and Mercer, are showing up.

Of the counties that Trump won, they ranged from Republican strongholds to more middle-ground districts.

Warren County ties Montgomery with 29,000 voters. They voted for Trump 65-34%.

Lorain comes next with 27,000. They voted for Trump 50-48%.

Butler follows with 26,000. They voted for Trump 65-34%.

Stark also has 26,000. They voted for Trump 58-40%.

And Delaware with 20,000. They voted for Trump 52-45%.

Lorain, Stark and Delaware are pivot counties, ones that either voted for Obama and then for Trump or have voted for causes opposed by the Ohio Republican Party, like abortion access and recreational marijuana.

The pivots continue — next comes Medina and Lake, each with 19,000. Medina voted for Trump 61-38% and Lake 56-42%.

However, many blue counties are seeing an increase this year in early voting. Mike West with The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections said that in-person voting has already broken records.

“I think we might end up with close to double the number of early voters for this election compared to the last ‘normal’ election for president,” West said.

It’s difficult to compare early voting data to 2020 due to the pandemic — so I am comparing it to 2016.

Two weeks before the election in 2016, Cuyahoga County had about 7,000 early in-person votes. And now, it has roughly 54,000. Summit County says they are seeing the same trend.

In a day-to-day comparison, Franklin, Cuyahoga and Hamilton all have more voters than at the same time in 2016.

Dems shouldn’t get too excited. West said that they may be ahead in early voting numbers, but that doesn’t mean there will be a huge increase in overall participation.

“It seems like it’s the same people that come out and vote every four years,” he said. “We just slice and dice the methods a little differently.”

Hours of early voting

Oct. 21-25: 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Oct. 26: 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Oct. 27: 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Oct. 28: 7:30 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 29: 7:30 a.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Oct. 30 – Nov. 1: 7:30 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 2: 8 a.m. – 4p.m.
Nov. 3: 1 – 5 p.m.

Absentee ballots

You must request your absentee ballot by 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 29. Once you get your actual ballot, it has to be postmarked by Nov. 4 and has to reach the BOE by Nov. 9.

Where to vote

You MUST vote at your county board of elections if you are voting early.

Click here to find your polling location for Nov. 5.

Voter identification

You need to bring a photo ID when voting in person. Acceptable forms are a valid Ohio driver’s license, a U.S. passport or a military ID. You may no longer use bank statements or utility bills.

Other acceptable forms of ID are a state of Ohio ID card, an interim ID form issued by the Ohio BMV, a U.S. passport card, an Ohio National Guard ID card and a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ID card.

Other unacceptable forms of ID are a driver’s license or photo identification card issued by a state other than Ohio; a Social Security card, birth certificate, insurance card, government check, paycheck or other government document; or any registration acknowledgment notice from the county board of elections.

The IDs must have an expiration date that has not passed, a photograph of the voter, and the voter’s name, which must substantially conform to the voter’s name as it appears in the Poll List or in the Poll Book.

If you do not have any of the approved forms of identification, you are allowed to cast a provisional ballot. To have your vote counted, you must return to the BOE within four days of the election to provide a photo ID.

Nonpartisan voter helpline

If you have any questions or concerns about voting, a nonpartisan helpline has been created.

Call or text 1-866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) to speak with a trained Election Protection volunteer in English.

The hotline also comes in different languages

Spanish: 888-VE-Y-VOTA (888-839-8682)

Asian languages: 888-API-VOTE (888-274-8683)

Arabic: 844-YALLA-US (844-925-5287)

Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on X and Facebook.

This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.