Clark County could see fewer early voters than during the last presidential election.

Since early voting began Oct. 2, more than 3,000 voters have cast in-person absentee ballots and more than 5,300 have mailed in ballots. By comparison, in 2008, more than 9,000 voters cast in-person absentee ballots total during the entire presidential election, with another 8,400 total submitting mail ballots.

That could mean longer lines come Nov. 6, election officials said, unless there is a surge in early voting in the remaining two weeks. There are also just 91,419 registered voters in the county currently, compared to the 93,045 who were registered to vote in 2008.

“It looks like we’re on the lighter side right now. We’re now in the last two weeks and we’re hoping people take advantage of the opportunities to vote (early) so we can keep our lines short,” said Matthew Tlachac, director of the Clark County Board of Elections.

As of last Friday, more than 124,000 voters statewide had cast in-person early ballots and more than 282,900 Ohioans had mailed in ballots, according to an informal survey conducted by the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office.

The study showed that Clark County had the 17th most in-person early voters in the state, with Franklin and Cuyahoga counties ranking first and second, respectively, according to the study.

Montgomery County ranked fifth, with more than 6,000 in-person early voters at that time and Butler County ranked ninth with more than 3,600 votes cast in-person, the study showed.

Champaign County has a total of 27,581 registered voters — 26,157 were registered in 2008 — and of those, more than 3,500 absentee in-person and mailed-in ballots have been cast since Oct. 2, about 2,000 fewer than for all of the 2008 presidential election, Champaign County Board of Elections Director Meredith Bodey said.

While Montgomery County and other communities say the volume of early voting is ahead of previous years, Bodey said some voters remain apprehensive about voting absentee and provisional ballots.

“There’s so many misconceptions out there … Some think they’re not going to count,” Bodey said. “We take every precaution. When ballots come in here they’re handled with kid gloves,” Bodey said.

Bodey anticipates a last minute surge in early voters in the next couple of weeks, and encourages registered voters to cast ballots early to avoid long lines come Election Day.

For more information on voting, call the Clark County Board of Elections at (937) 521-2125 or visit www.electionsonthe.net/oh/clark/. Champaign County voters should call (937) 484-1575 or visit www.electionsonthe.net/oh/champaign/.