As Lake and Geauga counties go, maybe so goes Ohio.

So far at last look this week in this gubernatorial election year, Lake County has seen 3,635 absentee voters in the May 4 primary. It was a total 3,022 absentee voters in the gubernatorial primary of May 2, 2006.
For Geauga County in May 2006, it was about 1,400 absentee voters. It’s so far about 1,906 such voters.

But in the years for electing a governor, Lake County saw 22,758 absentee ballots cast in the presidential election year primary of March 4, 2008. Remember hordes of Democrats turning out in almost all states’ primaries to choose between Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama?

Party switchers among absentee voters in this year’s May primary? In Lake and Geauga counties, it’s a few more. Most are switching to the Republican Party.

Third-party absentee voters?
Lake County so far has seen only about 10 such absentee “Tea Party” voters, compared with about six in Geauga County. In both counties, the switch is mainly to the Constitution Party.

But wait for the larger in-person, at-the-polls voting by chosen political party on May 4. All parties will get many more votes that day as they prepare to head for the nonpartisan November ballot.

P.S. Any talk of Trumbull County’s Tom Wright, who’s an 11th Appellate Court judicial candidate, getting some noted area Democrat Party endorsement by next week?

--David W. Jones