Gianna Delluomo of Poland scans her ballot after voting early Thursday at the Mahoning County Board of Elections. Director Tom McCabe said the presidential race is expected to increase voter turnout on Tuesday.

About three out of every four registered voters in Mahoning and Trumbull counties are expected to cast ballots in this election, which would be among the highest turnout percentages in years, according to boards of elections directors.

Former President Donald Trump, a Republican, is widely expected to beat Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, in the presidential election in Ohio.

But the election directors said the turnout is driven largely by the presidential race.

“As I talk to voters, it’s the presidential race,” said Tom McCabe, who also is the county Republican Party chairman. “It’s both sides who are coming out. We’re seeing a lot of people here to vote for president. The presidential race is driving people out to vote.”

McCabe said turnout in Mahoning County should be between 72% and 74%.

“We’ve had people waiting to pull into the parking lot at times,” he said.

Stephanie Penrose, Trumbull County Board of Elections director, said: “We’ve had a line around the building every day and it’s been getting bigger and bigger. It’s been busy, busy, busy.”

Penrose predicts turnout in Trumbull to be between 74% and 76%.

There are 163,093 registered voters in Mahoning and 137,685 in Trumbull.

In 2020, the last presidential election year, turnout was 74.4% in Trumbull and 72.6% in Mahoning. Turnout is at its highest point during presidential years.

In 2016, turnout was 69.7% in Trumbull and 70.8% in Mahoning.

In 2012, it was 67.8% in Trumbull and 72.2% in Mahoning.

Early in-person voting is up in both counties this year, Penrose and McCabe said.

In Mahoning County, 24,236 people voted early in-person, according to statistics provided Friday afternoon by the Ohio secretary of state.

That number is 18,894 in Trumbull.

Early voting continues Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and then 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Penrose and McCabe expect the final two days of early in-person voting to be the busiest.

“The weekend is going to be crazy,” Penrose said. “People over the weekend should be prepared to wait. It’s also a long ballot, four pages, so it takes time to vote it. Patience is a virtue.”

McCabe said, “The weekend will be the busiest. We expect many people coming here to vote during the two days.”

The Mahoning County early voting center is at the Oakhill Renaissance Place, 345 Oak Hill Ave., Youngstown. It is in the same building at the board of elections.

Early voting in Trumbull County is at the board of elections, 2947 Youngstown Road SE, Warren.

In Trumbull County, 19,168 requested mail absentee ballots with 16,597 returning them as of Friday, which is 87%, according to the secretary of state.

In Mahoning County, 23,775 people requested mail absentee ballots with 17,572 returning them as of Friday afternoon, which is 74%, according to the secretary of state.

Mahoning had the lowest return percentage for its mail absentee ballots among the state’s 88 counties.

That is likely because an issue with a vendor caused a significant delay for some Mahoning County voters to get their ballots by mail.

Ballots were supposed to be mailed starting Oct. 8 to those who requested them before that date.

But ElectionIQ LLC, an Akron company hired by the Mahoning board to print and mail ballots had mailed only 800 ballots by Oct. 15, at a time when about 22,000 were requested.

McCabe on Oct. 16 drove a board of elections truck to the company’s headquarters and picked up 11,000 ballots that were printed and brought them to the downtown Youngstown post office.

The elections board fired ElectionIQ the same day and had Graphic Village of Blue Ash, near Cincinnati, print the other ballots.

McCabe picked up the remaining 10,000-plus ballots Oct. 21 and mailed them at the Youngstown post office.

Ballots have to be postmarked by Monday, the day before the election, and have to arrive at county boards of elections no later than four days after the election to be counted.

Voters also can put their ballots in drop boxes at county boards of elections.

There is no voting at the boards of elections Tuesday. All voters must go to their precincts to cast a ballot.

If voters request mail ballots and they don’t arrive in time or if there are concerns the ballot won’t make it to boards of elections in time, people can have their absentee ballot canceled and vote in person.

The polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

An approved photo identification is needed to vote early in-person and at the polling locations.

To vote those ways, a person needs one of the following: a driver’s license, a state ID card, a passport, a passport card or a military ID.

Those who vote by mail can use either their driver’s license ID number or the last four digits of their Social Security number.

A state law, that took effect with the May 2023 election, eliminated a number of forms of ID that were previously acceptable. That included bank statements, utility bills, pay stubs, government checks and the last four digits of a person’s Social Security number.

McCabe and Penrose said an overwhelming majority of voters show a photo ID when voting.