The campaign of 2011 is just a few hours away from its conclusion, and there have been few reports of voters who waited till today to cast ballots experiencing problems. While elections officials in several counties did report heavy turnout for early voting, Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted says that’s not necessarily an indication of a huge number of people coming to the polls in an off-year election.
"We thought there would be healthy turnout. I think it's questionable that it will be a record turnout for an off-year election. What we're hearing anecdotally from the local boards of election that it's average to above average at this point in time," says Husted.
Husted didn’t come up with a specific turnout estimate, saying it’s often just an educated guess, especially in an off-year election. But most elections officials say the interest in the three statewide issues – particularly Issue 2 – have driven more people to the polls than might have been expected.