Wayne Allen|Daily Times

Justin Clevenger of Portsmouth receives instruction form Scioto County Board of Elections Deputy Director Teresa Knittel on Monday.

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Frank Lewis

PDT Staff Writer

Twenty percent of the registered voters in Scioto County have already cast their votes before the polls actually open today. With 47,519 people registered to vote in the county, approximately 9,375 had cast their votes by 2 p.m. Monday. It was another busy day Monday with more than 250 people voting by the 2 p.m. cut-off, following a 250-plus voter turnout on Sunday from 1 - 5 p.m.

“I got here at 11 a.m. (Sunday) with voting to begin at 1 p.m. and when I opened the door it was like I lowered the flood gates,” said Julia Gearheart, Director of the Scioto County Board of Elections, as she took the time to explain voting procedures to another voter.

“In office, so far, we have voted 4, 499, and with around 350 provisionals, we have voted almost 4,849 people in the office,” Gearheart said. “The total absentee requests are 9,839 ballots, and not counting today’s votes, we have received a total of 9,125 votes.”

If you factor in the estimated Monday vote, the total would be 9,375. People could be seen carrying large leather bags out to their cars and trucks.

“Precinct presiding judges are picking up their supplies for their precincts (on Election Day),” Gearheart said. “We have trustees from the townships picking up their supplies also.”

Polls open today at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. At 7:45 p.m., Gearheart will call in the number of absentee votes to the Secretary of State’s office.

As of Friday, more than 1.6 million Ohioans had already cast their ballots. Of the more than 1.3 million absentee ballots that have been mailed to voters during the absentee voting period, more than 1.1 million have already been returned or 85.5 percent. In addition, more than 495,000 voters had voted in person at their board of elections or designated vote center.

“Voting has gone smoothly in Ohio and we expect that trend to continue through the close of the polls on Election Day,” Secretary of State Jon Husted said. “As voters continue to take advantage of the hours remaining to vote absentee in person and by mail, absentee voting for the 2012 is on track to surpass 2008.”

Frank Lewis may be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 252, or at flewis@heartlandpublications.com