OH-05: Democrats Doing Well in Absentee Ballots

More from the subscription only Roll Call story excerpted earlier:

Van Wert County Republican Party Chairman Marty Burchfield conceded that absentee voting returns he had seen were closer than expected. He said the party affiliations corresponding to the ballots show “there’s a little more activity on the Democratic side than there has been in the past.”

“Normally we would have a little higher distribution of Republican versus Democrat than we have now,” Burchfield said.

Absentee voting activity is expected to increase this cycle in part because voters no longer have to list a reason for not being able to get to the polls on Election Day.

Burchfield and the other Republicans quoted in the story all insist that Latta will win, but "the recent influx of cash and media attention has led Washington operatives to say it is much closer than they originally thought." The story also confirms that the RNCC "has poured 16 percent of its available cash on hand into the special election for a seat that should have been safe." In a sense this means that the Democrats have already won. An area Republican quoted in Roll Call, however, insists that it is just smart politics:

Huron County Republican Party Chairman David Kniffin said that although he’s confident Latta will prevail Tuesday, he’s pleased about getting financial support from the NRCC. “I don’t think you take a chance on something that is this unusual, this time of year, in such a short time frame,” Kniffin said. “Why would you want to? It just wouldn’t be something that’s smart politics.”

Hmm. No, I'm thinking the amount of money being spent says something else.

By the way, Blade reporter Josh Boak commented to me last week that he thought absentee ballots were going to be crucial in this race, and I think he's right. The weather is looking iffy, it's the holiday season, classes are over at Bowling Green State University -- these are all reasons why in-person voting may be very low, so the absentee ballots take on larger significance.