COLUMBUS, Ohio – With one more week to cast absentee ballots for the Nov. 4 general election, Republican Gov. John Kasich is slated to make his case for a second term during an appearance at the Columbus Metropolitan Club Tuesday afternoon.
Early voting continues through next Monday:
Weekdays -8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. through Fri. Oct. 31
Sat. Nov. 1- 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Sun. Nov. 2 -1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Mon. Nov. 3 – 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Kasich’s challengers — Democrat Ed FitzGerald and Green Party candidate Anita Rios — have previously appeared at separate forums put on by the organization.
Kasich is running largely on Ohio’s improved economy under his watch, a bounce tied at least in part to recovery from a national recession. He has led in fundraising and in the polls during his re-election bid.
FitzGerald, the Cuyahoga County executive, says he would restore money cut from education and local-government budgets if elected. He’s scheduled to speak at a get-out-the-vote event Tuesday evening in Akron.
The trend in Franklin County continues to show in-person voting running ahead of comparable numbers in the last gubernatorial election while voting by mail lags behind the pace set in 2010, according to data released Monday by the Franklin County Board of Elections.
The board says 4,477 voters have cast their ballots in person at the board’s office at 1700 Morse Road compared with 1,583 four years ago. There have been 106,474 requests for ballots by mail since early voting began Oct. 7 compared to 148, 559 in 20010, spokesman Ben Piscitelli said.
Based on a survey of county election boards, 816,739 voters have requested absentee ballots to vote by mail statewide and an additional 61,724 have cast an absentee ballot in person as of Friday, according to Secretary of State Jon Husted’s office announced.