At noon Nov. 7, early in-person voting closed in Monroe County.
Currently, 14% of registered Monroe County voters chose to vote early, according to the Monroe County Clerk’s Office, but absentee ballots are being accepted until 6 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 8. Voters who requested absentee ballots but who would like to vote in person instead can surrender their absentee ballot at the polls to do so.
In total, 14,051 people voted early in person in Monroe County, according to the clerk's office. For mail-in voting, 3,822 absentee ballots were sent out and, as of now, only 2,942 have been returned. All absentee ballots returned before polls close at 6 p.m. Nov. 8 will be counted.
It’s currently unclear what this means for Election Day voting. In the 2018 midterms, approximately 24,500 people voted before Election Day, either by mail or early in person, according to B Square Bulletin. That accounted for nearly half of 2018 Monroe County voters. This year, even if all absentee ballots are returned, that amounts to 17,873 early voters — over 6,600 less than the 2018 approximation.
