CLEVELAND — The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections had a special visit from Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose on Wednesday morning to encourage residents to consider voting early in the state's Special Congressional Primary Election for the 11th Congressional District.
“The numbers so far are not very large," LaRose said of early voting in this particular election. "We’ve only seen close to 1,400 early in-person votes here at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections and right around 21,000 absentee ballots requested.”
This special election is being held to fill the state’s congressional seat, which was left empty after Marcia Fudge was selected to serve as the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development within President Joe Biden’s administration earlier this year.
LaRose said now is the time to get your request in for an absentee ballot.
"The clock is ticking as we approach election day. Sometimes the mail moves slower than other times, so don’t risk it.”
He also said they're in need of poll workers to help with this special election.
"My understanding is the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections is about 600 short," LaRose said. "I have every confidence they will make up that gap over the next two weeks, but I know the Summit County Board of Elections is looking for people as well.”
We streamed LaRose's full press conference live, which you can watch in the player below:
Early voting in the race began two weeks ago on July 7 and will continue until Aug. 2. The primary election will be held Tuesday, Aug. 3. CLICK HERE to find an early voting location.
Here’s the early voting calendar:
- Weekdays (Monday through Friday) July 7-23: 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.
- Weekdays (Monday through Friday) July 26-30: 8 a.m. until 7 p.m.
- Saturday, July 31: 8 a.m. until 4 p.m.
- Sunday, August 1: 1 p.m. until 5 p.m.
- Monday, August 2: 8 a.m. until 2 p.m.
RELATED: Early voting begins Wednesday in Special Congressional Primary Election for Ohio's 11th district
The following candidates are on the ballot:
- John E. Barnes Jr.
- James Jerome Bell
- Shontel Brown
- Seth J. Corey
- Jeff Johnson
- Will Knight
- Pamela M. Pinkney
- Isaac Powell
- Lateek Shabazz
- Tariq K. Shabazz
- Shirley Smith
- Nina Turner
- Martin Alexander