CLEVELAND — Three weeks in and one week to go for early voting in Ohio and more than one county is reporting near record-breaking numbers.
“We’re seeing bigger turnout at the early vote center than any of us recall seeing,” Summit County Board of Elections deputy director Pete Zeigler said. “This is just the year people are coming out early and coming in person coming to vote.”
Around lunchtime Monday the line wrapped around the building. Voters told 3News it was an efficient process. At its peak over the weekend, Zeigler said they had wait times around an hour and a half.
“There’s so much on the line. Our democracy, freedoms, everything,” early voter Sanam Gill said. “I just believe that you just need to be out here and make time for what’s important.”
More than 31,000 early voters and counting have showed up so far and the office has mailed out around 60,000 mail-in ballots. If you want to vote by mail, Tuesday October 29 is the last day you can request an absentee ballot. It must be postmarked by the day before election day.
“America first. That’s what I’m about. That’s what I believe in,” early voter Chris Bernhart said. “Congress needs to be shifted over to a more conservative viewpoint so we can actually get stuff done. In order to get stuff done you have to have both houses.”
No surprise, voters told 3News’ Matt Rascon the presidential race is top of mind when coming to the polls. But others also mentioned State Issue 1 and the debate over redistricting, local races and school issues and a heated U.S. Senate race. The political discourse, the TV ads and online debates have taken a toll on some early voters.
“This election is probably one of the most important elections in our time,” Mark Burnside said. “I just think it’s important. I think America has gotten off on the wrong track as far as politics goes. It’s gotten meaner. It’s gotten dirty. It’s gotten nasty and we should be able to agree to disagree without the rhetoric.”
“It should be a fact instead of just a made up lie and there are too many of those in this election. And people are confused,” Teresa Weinberger said, referring to the TV ads for the Senate race.
On Friday Lorain County election officials told 3News they were also expecting potentially record numbers for early voting by the end of this week as early voting hours expand. But they said that doesn’t necessarily mean record voter turnout overall. Election officials say it could just be more people showing up early.
“We’ll let the voters decide that on election day,” Zeigler said.