While the all-impor­tant state of Ohio remains too close to call at this hour, CNN has released exit polling that shows Barack Oba­ma with a slight lead — 51% to Mitt Rom­ney’s 49%. That may seem like good news, but exit polls don’t always cor­re­late with actu­al results. Until we get hard data, we won’t able to do much more than spec­u­late about the Buck­eye State.

The pop­u­lar vote may be decid­ed by pro­vi­sion­al bal­lots. The Colum­bus Dis­patch reports:

A larg­er than usu­al num­ber of pro­vi­sion­al bal­lots crop­ping up in some areas of Colum­bus and Cleve­land were being report­ed today, caus­ing con­cerns that they could impact a close election.

Many peo­ple try­ing to vote in Dri­ving Park in Colum­bus and sev­er­al minor­i­ty neigh­bor­hoods of Cleve­land were told they weren’t reg­is­tered or were reg­is­tered in the wrong place. As a result, they were required to cast pro­vi­sion­al ballots.

Elec­tions offi­cials aren’t allowed to begin count­ing pro­vi­sion­al bal­lots until Nov. 17. Indi­vid­ual boards of elec­tions must then cer­ti­fy their counts by Nov. 27, although Sec­re­tary of State Jon Husted could move that date up a few days.

1.8 mil­lion peo­ple vot­ed by mail or vot­ed ear­ly, accord­ing to Ohio elec­tions officials.

About the author

Andrew Villeneuve is the founder and executive director of the Northwest Progressive Institute, as well as the founder of NPI's sibling, the Northwest Progressive Foundation. He has worked to advance progressive causes for over two decades as a strategist, speaker, author, and organizer. Andrew is also a cybersecurity expert, a veteran facilitator, a delegate to the Washington State Democratic Central Committee, and a member of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps.

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