Morning Briefing | Early in-person voting numbers up in region

A lot of people are getting out to vote early this election season.

In today’s Morning Briefing, we check in with local boards of elections to gauge what turnout at the polls has looked like so far. We also look at how student fights are disrupting local libraries and what can be done about the situation.

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The newsletter should take about 3 minutes, 50 seconds to read.

Election 2024: Early in-person voting numbers up in region

Credit: Jim Noelker

Local county boards of elections are seeing a busy early voting season ahead of the Nov. 5 general election, with thousands of early in-person voters filing in to cast ballots.

• Early voting: Early voting in Ohio began on Oct. 8. Nearly 1 million Ohioans have already cast their ballots.

• What boards of elections leaders are seeing: Board leaders are reporting a drop in ballots coming in by mail, but requests for absentee ballots are coming in daily.

• Montgomery County numbers: A total of 32,650 ballots were received by the board of elections as of Wednesday. That includes in-person voters (18,316) and mailed ballots (14,335).

• What they are saying: “I attribute this to the scare of COVID being over, and people want to get out and cast their vote in person,” said Alisha Beeler, director of the Greene County Board of Elections. “I expect that the amount of absentee requests will continue to climb as well as the amount of people coming in to early vote.”

• Miami County delays: Some Miami County voters who applied to vote by mail may have experienced delays in receiving their ballots due to issues with the election board’s printing vendor and a post office holiday.

Dayton library fights: Community suggests solutions, wants youth input

A panel discussion this week focused on student fights, disturbances and public safety issues at multiple Dayton libraries.

• What’s been happening? Fights involving young people have taken place inside and outside of the Main Library downtown and other branches, which have seen a large increase in police calls for service this year.

• Deeper problems: Multiple community members and leaders said they believe the fights and bad behaviors are symptoms of deeper problems of violence, hopelessness and division in the community.

• Local young people: Some speakers at the forum repeated a years-old call for local young people to have more and better after-school opportunities, programs and resources. Some attendees said young people must be part of the solution and their voices need to be heard and considered so the community knows what they are thinking and what they need.

• A way curb problems: Multiple community members said they believe one way to cut down on problems is to get students on buses to head home right after school instead of having them hang around at the libraries.

• Lack of community centers: Library facilities are where young people tend to congregate these days because they no longer have as many community centers and other places to go in their neighborhoods.

• Library closed: The Southeast Branch Library has been shutting down for safety reasons from 2:30 to 5 p.m. on school days for the month of October.

• What they are saying: “I’m deeply worried that the RTA is not sending the buses to pick these kids up,” said Joe Winters, 41, a Dayton resident who often patronizes the Southeast Branch. “You’ve got a lot of kids at the Southeast Branch who don’t want to be there — they are waiting for a bus.”

What to know today

• One big takeaway: A Kettering man was sentenced to decades in prison for a fatal Moraine drive-by shooting that stemmed from a social media feud.

• Big move of the day: An $11.6 million project is going to bring 27 new homes to the Wolf Creek neighborhood, which some leaders hope is on the cusp of a major transformation.

• Tip of the day: Here’s how Dayton-area people can help with holiday care packages for troops.

• Election 2024: Dion Green and Phil Plummer bring different perspectives on criminal justice to their Statehouse race.

• Things to do: The Foundry, downtown Dayton’s rooftop restaurant on the sixth floor of the AC Hotel, is celebrating Halloween with a pirate-themed party on Friday.

• Photo of the day: The Dayton Liederkranz-Turner German Club hosted its annual Oktoberfest celebration at their clubhaus in the St. Anne’s Hill Historic District this past weekend. Festivities included live music, authentic German food, bier and more. Check out all the photos here.

Credit: Tom Gilliam