Early voting got underway Tuesday in Cuyahoga County for those communities holding a primary on September 12 including Cleveland where voters will decide which of nine candidates running for mayor will face off in November.
Over 80 people voted on the first day of in person early voting at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections which is open for early voting from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday through September 1, with hours expanding after that.
The board had received close to 1,000 applications for vote by mail ballots from Cleveland ahead of the kickoff.
"I'm not seeing much interest based off of early absentee requests as I anticipated," said Pat McDonald, Director of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections. "But as the campaigns get rolling and the media starts picking up I expect that we will get more interest in this race."
News 5 Political Analyst Dr. Tom Sutton of Baldwin Wallace University isn't surprised at the slow start.
"Traditionally people look at, they get politically active and interested after Labor Day. Now because of the timing of this primary that basically means a week after Labor Day is when the primary takes place, so the timing is bad for that kind of awareness to suddenly occur."
Other Cuyahoga County municipalities taking part in the September 12 primary include parts of Bay Village, North Olmsted and the cities of East Cleveland, Solon and Maple Heights.
If you requested an absentee ballot over the last month and have not yet received one, it's coming.
"Today [Tuesday] is the first day that we're allowed to send out absentee ballots," McDonald said. "They should be receiving them over the next couple of days."
Vote by mail ballot applications are available at www.443vote.com or by calling (216) 443-VOTE (8683).
