MOUNT VERNON — Due to the large number of state and local issues that will be on the Nov. 4 ballot, Rita Yarman, director of the Knox County Board of Elections, encourages voters to request absentee ballots in order to review the issues and make informed decisions when they vote.
Sept. 30 is the first day the BOE can allow early voting, or no-fault absentee voting, as it is officially known in the state. It is also the date when absentee ballots can be mailed out to voters who have requested them.
“We would prefer, if they have made the choice to vote absentee, that they do it as soon as possible,” said Yarman. “It looks, at this point ... like it will be a very heavy ballot as far as a lot of state issues [and] local issues. It would be very advantageous for a lot of people to get their absentee ballots and have plenty of time to read them and go over them before they make their decisions.
“The earlier the better,” she added.
Between Sept. 30 and Oct. 6, there is a window of opportunity this election year for first-time voters to take advantage of “one-stop” voting, where they can register to vote and then immediately cast a no-fault absentee ballot.
“After someone registers to vote ... we have to send them a card and it has to go through the mail; we can’t hand it to them,” explained Yarman. “If that [card] comes back undeliverable, then we can flag that ballot, because we don’t open and count it ... until election day.
“We can flag it if we think for some reason, because of the return mailing, the folks aren’t where they said they were living, and we can go about getting that cleared up before Election Day.”
Because this year is a presidential election and the ballot may contain many state and local issues, Yarman encourages voters to request absentee ballots or stay informed of the issues that will be placed on the ballot.
“Unfortunately, people who do not vote in every election don’t understand that in a presidential election, the candidate’s names are on [the ballot] with all the other federal and other offices, along with all the ... issues,” said Yarman. “For some reason [voters] think they are separate ballots, and they are not.”
With all of the other offices and issues placed on the ballot, said Yarman, there is a possibility voters will arrive at the polls not expecting to find such a large ballot.
“[Voters] go to the polls prepared only to vote for president, and when they get there, they then have all of the other offices up for election and a multitude of questions and issues to answer, and they are totally unprepared,” said Yarman. “With the length of the ballot, it really takes a long time.
“That’s one good reason for folks to get an [absentee] ballot and vote at home; they have lots of time to go through there and make those decisions,” she added.
There are 37,206 registered voters in Knox County as of Aug. 15; and the majority — 18,951, about 51 percent — are registered as independent. However, the BOE could face an influx of newly registered voters due to the two institutions of higher learning in the county.
According to Yarman, in Ohio a voter gains residency status when they have lived in the state for 30 days or more. Shawn Presley in the public affairs office at Kenyon College estimates that approximately 1,280 students at the college this year are out-of-state residents. Potentially, these students could register and vote while in Knox County.
Officials at Mount Vernon Nazarene University were unable to be reached for an estimate of MVNU’s out-of-state students.
