Tagged: Secretary of State Jon Husted

A three day statewide conference of boards of elections members and workers concludes today in Columbus, just as state lawmakers prepare to come back to the capital for their first full week of work in this new General Assembly.

Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted has his own list of priorities for lawmakers, such as online voter registration, online requests for absentee ballots, uniform hours of operation for board of elections offices and new rules for provisional ballots.

“For reasonable people, there is nothing controversial here,” says Husted.

Almost 1.9 million Ohioans voted with an absentee ballot in last year's election - a record number for the perennial presidential battleground state.

Secretary of State Jon Husted released reports Wednesday showing that roughly 33 percent of the more than 5.6 million votes cast in the November election were from absentee ballots.  The early ballots accounted for about 30 percent of the overall votes cast in 2008.

Voters in Ohio can cast an absentee ballot early by mail or in person without giving any reason.