The Enquirer - Democratic ballots run short
Clermont County had run out of Democratic ballots by early evening at some precincts and was turning people away at the polls who were requesting them, several voters reported.
Elections Board Director Mike Keely said at 6 p.m. his workers were printing out more ballots to ship to precincts in Miami, Union and Pierce townships.
“No voters are being turned away. We’re asking them to wait. We have deputy sheriff’s taking ballots to the polling places.”
But some voters said they were being sent home. An Enquirer editor was told his polling place in Milford had been out of Democratic ballots since 2:45 p.m. Another in Pierce Township said he was turned away.
The scarcity of Democratic ballots may be attributable to a massive amount of crossover voting. Around 4 p.m. the board said it was preparing to send more Democratic ballots to its Union Township precincts. “There are lots of people switching over. We’ve had far more people voting Democratic than we expected,” said an elections board worker.
Keely said the problem may slow election results because they may have to keep polls open late to make sure everyone has a chance to vote.
Ohio’s Democratic presidential primary has a wild card going today that is clearly present in nearly every polling place in the state – the phenomenon of Republicans and independents crossing over to vote Democratic.
The Clermont County Board of Elections was preparing to send more Democratic ballots to its Union Township precincts.
“There are lots of people switching over. We’ve had far more people voting Democratic than we expected,” said an elections board worker. Clermont County is a solidly Republican county.
In Warren County – one of the most Republican counties in the state – election officials have already had to restock polling places with Democratic ballots.
The county was seeing considerable turnout at the polls and more people than usual were asking for Democratic ballots, Elections Director Michael Moore said.
That caused the board to deliver extra Democratic ballots to the 172 polling places to keep up with the demand.
It hadn’t come to that in Hamilton County by mid-afternoon, but election officials were ready in case polling places began running out of Democratic ballots later in the day.
“Voting has been extraordinarily heavy on the Democratic side,’’ said John Williams, director of the Hamilton County Board of Elections. “We’ve got a team of ballot runners in place, just in case.”
Part of the crossover phenomenon has been driven by the fact that Republicans haven’t seen much of a contest in the presidential primary on their side – John McCain is expected to roll over Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul. Independents, no doubt, are being attracted to the Democratic side by the exceedingly high profile battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
But a good portion of it is probably being driven by the fact that, over the past few weeks, nearly every piece of campaign literature and broadcast advertising put out by the Obama campaign has emphasized the fact that, in Ohio, Republicans and independents can vote in the Democratic primary.
Then, too, there were radio talk show hosts like WLW’s Bill Cunningham and Rush Limbaugh telling Republicans to go out and vote for Hillary Clinton – perhaps to encourage big Clinton wins today that would further muddy the waters in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The voting process itself was reported to be going smoothly.
Judy Hawks arrived at the West Chester Library off Cox Road shortly after polls opened at 6:30 a.m.
"It's exciting," Hawks, 59, said. "Just the diversity. The fact that my grandchildren are into it and young people are starting to vote."
She said she cast her ballot for Obama.
"I think he's new," she said. "I think he's fresh. We're stale. We've got the 'same old, same old' going on and I think we need to change."
Voting was busy at the Socialville Baptist Church in Deerfield Township, where
First-time voter Jesse Niehaus, 18, made up his mind about how he was going to vote “a while ago,” he said.
Fellow students at Mason High School were very interested in politics this year, he said. Jesse’s father, Bob, also voted this morning. He said conversations at home about the election had been “lively.”
Kay Keith, 46, voted for Obama at the Bond Hill Recreation Center.
"No question," said Keith, who has been voting since she was 18. "This wasn't a tough decision for me. Obama can bring people of all races together."
But no matter how many times she's filled in a ballot, Keith said there is a sense of history today.
"Just for Obama to have gotten as far as he has is history-making," she said. "Not just because he's an African American, but because he's young with new ideas.''
Voting at Nativity School in Pleasant Ridge was busy in the morning, the heavy gray metal doors slamming behind voters as they shook out umbrellas and pulled off hoods.
Laura Long said she supported Clinton.
"I voted for Hillary because I like what she's about," said Long, 53, of Pleasant Ridge. "I have followed her for years. I think she can get the change going from the beginning."
Kim Nerswick said she voted for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, as she left the White Oak Christian Church in Colerain Township.
"I thought he was the most conservative, he's pro-life with traditional family values," said Nerswick, 36, of Colerain Township.
In many traditionally Republican precincts, turnout was slow -- a consequence of early voting, rainy weather and a less competitive presidential primary.
Precinct Green NN in Bridgetown is one of the most conservative in Hamilton County, voting 84 percent for George W. Bush in 2004. By 9:30 a.m., 55 people had voted -- 31 Republicans and 24 Democrats.
In fact, there were eight "crossover" ballots requested from voters asking to change their party affiliation.
"The interesting thing about that is that the crossover goes both ways," said precinct official Annette Georgin. "The other thing that's changed is that younger people are coming in -- father and son, mother and daughter. That's been nice to see."
Democratic polling places run out of ballots
ignorance is bliss?
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