Some Early Voting tidbits from Ohio...

But in Ohio, where registration is required only in primaries, the parties rely on different indicators, like returns in key strongholds:

And there is encouraging news for both: In Hamilton and Franklin counties, two urban centers around Cincinnati and Columbus respectively, early voting shows heavy turnout in the areas that helped secure the state for Obama in 2008.

The state is mailing absentee ballot applications to voters for the first time this year and McDonald said that could be affecting increased returns in rural areas, which are more heavily Republican.

In rural areas of Ohio, absentee ballots sent to each registered voter in the state for the first time in 2012 also show increased turnout.

In Cuyahoga County, the largest in the state and home to Democrat-heavy Cleveland, nearly 250,000 absentee ballots have been requested and some 80,000 have been returned. Those numbers strongly favor Democrats: 47,538 to 16,720.

GOP officials say their absentee and in-person voting turnout in Franklin County is coming along nicely. Republicans account for 16.5% of registered voters there, but make up 28.6% of early voting activity so far.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/18/politics/early-voting-status-check/index.html