Early voting in Ohio: Here are some new numbers on absentee ballots and in-person numbers for a few key counties where clear and similar patterns are emerging (please note there's no assumption that a voter affiliated with a party will cast their ballot for that party):
Mahoning - the only Youngstown-area county that Trump didn't win in 2016 - has already seen a 25% increase in all absentee requests and early in-person votes compared to all in 2016, with a 41% increase fr both Democratic & unaffiliated voters and a 28% decline fr Republicans.
Trump won Lake County by more than 15 points in 2016 and some have speculated will be this year's bellwether. It's seen a 31% increase over all votes cast early in all of 2016, with more ballots from unaffiliated voters than Republican and Democratic votes together.
Second week of early voting in Ohio starts tomorrow. Here's some info about absentee ballot requests and in-person voting so far in 2020, with some breakdowns of partisan-affiliated voters. At least 2,154,235 Ohio voters have sent absentee ballots requests, which is a record.
So far in 60 Ohio counties, including the 3 largest, Democratic-affiliated voters mailed in 240,643 more absentee ballot requests than Republican-affiliated voters. In all of 2016, GOP-affiliated voters sent in 50,927 more requests than Dem-affiliated voters in those counties.
Most requests are from unaffiliated voters. But in those 60 Ohio counties in 2016, 55% of partisan-affiliated ballot requests were from Republicans, 45% Democrats. So far in those 60 counties in 2020, 66% of partisan-affiliated ballot requests are from Democrats, 34% GOP.
Breakdown of partisan-affiliated absentee ballot requests from Ohio's biggest counties, as early voting starts tomorrow: As of yesterday in Cuyahoga County, 80% of requests so far Democrats, 20% from Republicans. For all mailed ballots in 2016, the split was 64% Dems, 36% GOP.
In Hamilton County, as of yesterday 69% of requests from partisan-affiliated voters are from Democrats, 31% from Republicans. For all mailed ballots in 2016, the split was 56% Democrats, 44% Republicans.
In Franklin County, as of yesterday 76% of requests from partisan-affiliated voters are from Democrats, 24% from Republicans. That's a flip from all mailed ballots in 2016, when the split was 44% Democrats, 56% Republicans.
A brag to end the week - congratulations to @joingles, @andy_chow and Dan/aka @stateofohioshow for our five 2020 Ohio SPJ Awards, in radio & TV. Our team kills it every day and I love working with them. Also! Kudos to our friends at @917wvxu, @WKSU and @WCPN/@WVIZ for their wins!
Incoming - some of our winning work!
One was for Best Continuing Coverage with our reporting on HB 6, the nuclear bailout law, with @andy_chow leading the way. Here's a sample: statenews.org/post/after-eve…