Greatly increased in-person early voting rate in Columbus, Ohio is pointing to a potential for record long lines in the final days of early voting next week. Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the daily totals for 2012 and 2016:
EARLY VOTING DAY # | 2012 DATE | 2012 EARLY VOTES | 2016 DATE | 2016 EARLY VOTES |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 10/2 | 1,515 | 10/12 | 2,482 |
| 2 | 10/3 | 1,152 | 10/13 | 2,076 |
| 3 | 10/4 | 1,102 | 10/14 | 2,471 |
| 4 | 10/5 | 1,417 | 10/17 | 2,284 |
| 5 | 10/9 | 4,237 | 10/18 | 2,032 |
| 6 | 10/10 | 1,186 | 10/19 | 2,189 |
| 7 | 10/11 | 967 | 10/20 | 2,125 |
| 8 | 10/12 | 1,318 | 10/21 | 2,804 |
| 9 | 10/15 | 1,233 | 10/24 | 3,410 |
| 10 | 10/16 | 1,135 | 10/25 | 3.064 |
| 11 | 10/17 | 1,254 | 10/26 | 3,139 |
| 12 | 10/18 | 1,237 | 10/27 | - |
| 13 | 10/19 | 1,888 | 10/28 | - |
| 14 | 10/22 | 2,307 | 10/29 | - |
| 15 | 10/23 | 2,264 | 10/30 | - |
| 16 | 10/24 | 2,607 | 10/31 | - |
| 17 | 10/25 | 2,772 | 11/01 | - |
| 18 | 10/26 | 3,784 | 11/02 | - |
| 19 | 10/29 | 4,443 | 11/03 | - |
| 20 | 10/30 | 3,656 | 11/04 | - |
| 21 | 10/31 | 4,118 | 11/05 | - |
| 22 | 11/01 | 4,964 | 11/06 | - |
| 23 | 11/02 | 5,578 | 11/07 | - |
| 24 | 11/03 | 4,832 | ||
| 25 | 11/04 | 3,707 | ||
| 26 | 11/05 | 4,383 |
In summary, for the first 11 early voting days in 2012 there were 16,519 votes cast in-person, vs. 28,078 this time, a 70% increase. While there are three fewer early voting days in 2016 compared to 2012, the voting rate is on track to blow through the 2012 total.
The total for each voting day in 2016 so far is typically more than double the corresponding day in 2012. Whether that pace could continue through to the end is in doubt though, because the experience in 2012 was huge lines on the final days, and big traffic jams on Morse Rd. So the rate could hit maximum capacity. Here’s a video I took on the Sunday before election day, Nov. 4, 2012:
The average wait that day was about two hours. It took me a half hour to drive the final mile to the polling place on Morse Rd., and even then I bailed at a nearby strip mall parking lot and walked the rest of the way. Definitely the craziest day of the 2012 period. There were 3,707 votes that day, not the highest daily total, but Sunday hours were only 1pm-5pm (4 hours) vs. 8am-7pm (11 hours) for weekdays the week before and 8am-4pm (8 hours) on Saturday.
So far I haven’t heard of major backups at the polling place through Oct. 26th. The highest daily total so far is 3,410 on Monday Oct. 24, 2016 when the hours were 8:30am-5:30pm. Perhaps they have more machines or are in other ways operating more efficiently, or we just haven’t reached the tipping point where the lines balloon yet. We will see, particularly this Sunday when the hours are limited to a four-hour window.
This is the early voting schedule:
2016 data source: vote.franklincountyohio.gov/...
2012 data source: vote.franklincountyohio.gov/...