As of Saturday, Hamilton County's mail-in absentee ballots are running 30 percent above what they were in the last presidential election in 2008, according to figures from the board of elections.
It is an indication of the high interest in this year's presidential contest - and the fact that, this year, six million Ohio voters were mailed absentee ballot applications by Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted.
Elections officials in Hamilton County had processed 60,701 by Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008. This year, on Saturday, Oct. 6, the board was up to 78,666 absentee ballot applications processed.
This year's number includes 12,082 voters who voted in the last Democratic primary, 21,173 who voted in the Republican primary, and 43,440 independent voters who either didn't vote in the last primary or who asked for issue-only ballots.
