CLEVELAND — Though up in the air for weeks, early voting in Ohio's May 3 primary is now underway.
But lawmakers' partisan fighting and legal battles over how to define new political boundaries have generated confusion among voters, and it's having an impact on the ballot and on turnout. The ballot won't include state legislative districts, forcing Ohio to hold a second primary, perhaps in August.
Cuyahoga County Elections Chief Anthony Perlatti said during Wednesday's board meeting that requests for applications for mail-in votes are way down. He claims his office has processed 6,500 application, compared to 40,000 at this time in previous primaries.
In addition, 52 people voted in-person on the first day of the early period. These voters cast ballots based on a PDF version of the ticket because printed ones were not yet available. Seven of the 52 voters refused to use it and plan to return when printed ballots are ready.
Perlotti says those ballots are on the way and printers is preparing vote-by-mail ballots, which are expected to go out on Friday.
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