More voters seeking absentee ballots than at midterm election four years ago
Republicans, Libertarians and unaffiliated voters saw increases in their ranks in Washington County while the number of Democrats shrank, according to statistics compiled Monday.
Democrats countywide, however, still outnumber Republicans 47.3 percent to 40.1 percent.
The raw numbers show 66,849 Democrats to 57,902 members of the GOP.
Five years ago, there were 75,344 Democrats in the county to 48,916 Republicans.
Total unaffiliated voters and members of other parties – which range from Adarian to Bull Moose to Whig – now number 15,889, up from 14,630 in 2013.
Washington County has 141,367 registered voters, a total that would be affected only “by a few stragglers,” said Melanie Ostrander, Washington County assistant elections director, Tuesday.
Although Oct. 9 was the deadline, counties are still processing registration applications from voters who have moved to take names off rolls of counties where they no longer reside.
Washington Countians have requested 2,772 absentee ballots so far this fall, up from 1,787 four years ago.
The assistant director said 26 Trinity High School students and 16 from Canon-McMillan High School have signed up for shifts at local election boards as part of their community service requirements.
Greene County’s total of 21,846 voters registered is down a bit from 22,047 in 2013.
Democrats also outnumber Republicans there, but by a smaller margin than five years ago, when Democrats held a 62 percent to 29 percent registration edge over Republicans. Currently, there are 11,340 Democrats and 8,408 Republicans.
Absentee ballot applications thus far number 520 in Greene County, up from a total of 322 during the last midterm election in 2014, according to Tina Kiger, elections director.
Ostrander encouraged those who intend to cast a ballot via the absentee process not to wait until the absolute application deadline, which is 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 30. The ballots must be inside elections offices by 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 2, to be counted as part of general election totals.
The deadlines, set by the state, are identical in Greene County.