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Early voting remains popular

Nearly 1,500 cast ballots in Clark County; 1,300 vote early in Champaign County, elections officials say.

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By Megan Gildow  and Bridgette Outten, Staff writers 9:32 PM Saturday, October 31, 2009

CLARK COUNTY — Voters across the county will decide ballot issues and elected offices Tuesday, Nov. 3.

But some votes have already been cast through early voting initiatives.

Clark County’s absentee voting numbers were strong, but unsurprisingly, not even close to the ones recorded in last year’s presidential election.

As of 4 p.m. Oct. 29, 1,416 local voters had voted in office. The total number of absentee voters tallied was 5,201.

In comparison, 2008 saw 7,815 people who voted in office.

The total number of people who voted by Oct. 31 of last year was 16,749, according to figures provided by Board of Elections Director Mark Oster.

In Champaign County, 1,300 voters cast ballots early, according to the board of elections.

Northeastern and Northwestern Local Schools will ask voters to approve new tax issues on Election Day to fund the construction of new buildings.

Both districts are trying to capitalize on an opportunity to partner with the state and have the Ohio Schools Facilities Commission fund a portion of the project.

The political action committee supporting Northeastern’s bond issue raised $7,500 for its campaigning, largely from school booster organizations, a few businesses and staff and supporters, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Clark County Board of Elections.

The PAC for Northwestern schools raised more than $10,000 for its campaign, according to reports.

The majority of candidates in Clark County village, school board and township races filed campaign finance waivers this year, meaning they had no intention of spending more than $2,000 to campaign.

In several races, such as candidates running in Moorefield and Harmony townships, all the candidates filed the waiver.

In Bethel Twp., where four people are running for two seats, two candidates filed waivers, David Finfrock and Richard Zsambok.

Nancy Brown filed a finance report that she spent just more than $1,000 in in-kind contributions and listed no monetary contributions.

Don Minton raised a total of $5,233.93, the highest of most of the village and township candidates. He spent $3,129.79 of it, according to the report.

Donations to Minton’s campaign came from local Democrats, including Sheriff Gene Kelly, Clark County Commissioners David Hartley and Roger Tackett, Auditor George Sodders and Dan Saks of the Truman-Kennedy Democratic Club.

Several of Minton’s donations came from out of town as well, including Teamsters donations ranging from $50 to $500 from Teamsters locals in Cleveland, Youngstown, Eaton, Dayton, Kettering and Valley View.

All candidates for the Springfield city commissioners race filed petitions. Newcomer Joyce Chilton’s campaign raised $11,500; about $5,000 of that was from contributions, according to finance reports.

Incumbents Karen Duncan and Dan Martin raised $7,800 and $1,300 respectively and Challenger Rob Baker raised $4,515.

Staff writer Matt Sanctis contributed to this story.

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