Requests to vote by mail have plummeted in Ohio compared to recent previous midterm elections here, according to data released this week by the state as early voting begins.
As of Monday, 601,277 Ohioans had requested mail ballots ahead of the start of early voting on Tuesday. That’s a 26% drop from the 812,198 that voters had requested mail ballots at roughly the same time ahead of the last mid-term election four years ago. It also tracks well behind the 777,683 mail-in ballot requests from the same time ahead of the mid-term election in November 2018.
At a county level, the drop is pretty similar in areas that have voted in the recent past for Republican President Donald Trump and in the large urban counties that Democrats rely on. In the counties containing Ohio’s six largest cities – Akron, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton and Toledo – ballot requests dropped 24%. The rest of the state dropped 28%.
The largest percentage drop in Ohio occurred in deep-red Lawrence County, where mail ballot requests have fallen by 47%. The smallest percentage drops were in Cuyahoga County, a Democratic stronghold, and in Vinton County, the least populous county in Ohio that overwhelmingly supports Trump. Both fell by 16.7% compared to 2022.
Check the map below to see the change in every county.
Mail voting continues recent decline
It’s not exactly clear why fewer voters are requesting mail ballots this year. It could be a sign of lagging voter turnout. But it also could simply mean more voters are turning away from voting by mail in favor of voting in person – which would be the continuation of a years-long trend in Ohio.
Early voting data for all 88 Ohio counties is not yet available on county and state government websites. But for the 56 counties for which data is easily available, early in-person voting is indeed up from four years ago.
On Tuesday, Ohio voters cast 20,030 early-in-person ballots in those 56 counties. That’s more than double the 8,647 early in-person ballots voters cast on the first day of early voting four years ago. Places where early in-person voting was up on Tuesday included Cuyahoga County, where 1,908 people voted early, compared to 547 four years ago.
The drop in mail voting coincides with years of intensifying criticism from Trump, who repeatedly has described mail voting as rife with fraud, despite examinations of voting data that show instances of documented voter fraud are rare. But he stepped up his efforts after getting back to the White House in 2025. He directed the U.S. Postal Service to work on a system to screen ballot envelopes against eligible voter lists. The U.S. Supreme Court has blocked those new regulations from taking effect this year after they were challenged by voting-rights groups, many of which are left leaning.
Elections officials were cautious in saying why they think mail ballot requests have fallen off so sharply.
Antone White, director of the Franklin County Board of Elections, said his county’s voters have requested about 70,000 mail ballots, compared to more than 90,000 in 2018 and 2022.
He said county voters increasingly have preferred in-person voting since the height of the covid-19 pandemic earlier this decade.
“That suggests at least some voters may be choosing to vote early in person rather than by mail, but I wouldn’t attribute that change to any one single factor without more data,” White said.
Voting by mail goes from majority to minority of early voting
Ohio sends mail ballot applications to all registered voters ahead of even-year November elections. But voters only get a mail ballot if they fill out the application and return it. County elections boards mailed their first batch of blank ballots on Monday, Oct. 5. The mailing occurs one day before the start of early in-person voting.
In past years, a smaller initial absentee ballot mailing would seem to be a sign of lagging turnout, especially in Democratic counties. That’s because a set number of the electorate used to reliably tend to vote by mail. For multiple election cycles last decade, roughly two-thirds of all early votes were cast by mail. The other one third voted early in person at their county board of elections office.
But those numbers have flipped in more recent elections. Since 2023, most early voting has occurred in person, reaching 62% of the early vote in May 2026.
The relationship between falling mail voting rates and voter turnout is inconclusive so far. Overall turnout for the November 2024 election fell slightly compared to the previous presidential election. But the May primary election this year saw the highest turnout rate for a state midterm primary election since 2006, in large part due to a surge in Democratic voters.
Aaron Ockerman, director of the Ohio Association of Election Officials, said election officials across the state have reported a decline in mail voting. He raised the concern that could lead to longer in-person lines – a major problem for Ohio elections in the 2000s – although he said it’s hard to say right now.
“That’s one possible implication, but that depends entirely on how many people show up and vote [early in person] and how many people show up on Election Day,” he said.
Voter-rights group, Democrats cite U.S. Postal Service concerns
One explanation for the drop in mail voting could be that a new group of voters – Democrats – have become wary of the process due to Trump’s efforts to get the U.S. Postal Service involved with elections administration.
Jen Miller, president of the Ohio League of Women Voters, said voters have “flooded” her group on social media and via email with concerns about the postal service.
“They are not necessarily trusting that their ballot will come to them or their ballot will return,” Miller said.
In response, Miller said mail voting is secure – and an especially good option for rural voters, for students and people with disabilities.
“What I would say to voters is that’s why you get your request in early, return it early and track your ballot,” Miller said, highlighting a new state law that requires that all mail ballots arrive by Election Day in order to be counted. “But if you’re very concerned, please bring it directly to your county drop box or board of elections office.”
In one major Democratic county, Hamilton County, mail ballot requests dropped from 58,182 at this point in the election four years ago to 38,856 this week. Alex Linser, the local Democratic Party chair, said he thinks much of the shift is because more voters have preferred early in-person voting after county officials opened a new, larger in-person voting center at the county Board of Elections earlier this decade.
But Trump’s moves involving the postal service add an “extra layer” to that existing trend, Linser said.
“A lot of people have concerns about voting by mail. So I think we’re going to see less participation in that form because of the president’s behavior.”
SIgnal Statewide reached out to the Ohio Republican Party and the Ohio Democratic Party to weigh in on the drop in mail voting. They both made the case that the environment benefits their respective party.
Nick Johnson, a spokesperson for the Ohio Republican Party, said in a statement:. “We’re seeing that Republicans in our strongholds are on the move, and Democrats are standing still.” He went on to criticize the two top Democratic candidates, Amy Acton and Sherrod Brown.
In a statement, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Kathleen Clyde made the case that Democratic voters are energized behind “Democrats’ winning and unifying message” against Republicans who control Columbus and Washington, D.C.
“From now until Election Day, we’ll be working across the state to help every eligible Ohioan make their voice heard at the ballot box,” Clyde said.
