(CNN) - Just days away from Election Day, a significant number of Ohioans have already cast ballots, a state official said Saturday.
Secretary of State Jon Husted said 1.6 million people in the critical swing state have cast ballots through Friday, when four days remained in the race.
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Over 1 million of those were absentee ballots mailed to voters, while 495,000 were votes cast during in-person early voting hours. The absentee ballots returned represent approximately 85% of those mailed out to voters.
"Voting has gone smoothly in Ohio and we expect that trend to continue through the close of the polls on Election Day," Husted said in a statement from his office. "As voters continue to take advantage of the hours remaining to vote absentee in person and by mail, absentee voting for the 2012 is on track to surpass 2008."
That year, 1.4 million people voted early of the 5.6 million ballots cast, according to data collected by researchers at George Mason University. President Barack Obama won the state by five points.
A Friday CNN/ORC International Poll found Obama at 50% and Romney at 47% in the Buckeye State, a difference within the poll's sampling error.
President Barack Obama's campaign won an injunction in state court this fall to keep the polls open the weekend and Monday before Election Day, halting a new state law which would have shut down early in-person voting for most Ohioans.
The most early ballots so far this year have been cast out of Cuyahoga County, the Secretary of State's Office said, which includes Cleveland and is a Democratic stronghold.