LORAIN, Ohio — Eleven days out from the general election, early voters are showing up in places like Lorain County, where officials are predicting "record-breaking" voter turnout.
On Friday, signs and supporters tried to get out their last-minute pitches to voters as they made their way to the line stretching outside of the Lorain County Board of Elections Office.
"Obviously the first thing is the presidential race. That always brings a large number of people," BOE Director Paul Adams said. "But I expect next week, we probably will break records."
Adams, who also serves president of the Ohio Association of Election Officials, says his team is currently seeing about 2,000 voters a day in Lorain, and they expect to be in record-breaking territory next week.
The top race on the minds of voters that 3News spoke to was the race for the White House.
"The president of the United States," David, who came to vote early for Donald Trump, said. "I have kids, I have grandkids, I have all these family members that I've got to leave a free country to, and we're not going to leave a free country to these Democrats."
"He's a convicted felon. We need to be done. I don't want to hear his name again. I don't," Melanie Schank, a Kamala Harris supported, countered of Trump. "Most important election of my life and I voted blue all the way — for my daughter, for all the women in this country, for myself. There's no other choice."
"Even though, being a woman, I'd like to see a woman in office, I need qualification," Valerie Gonzalez added. "And I feel that Trump is more qualified. I do."
"I've voted most parties the whole time I've been voting," Jerry Wendell said. "I've also just tried to pick — I don't want to say the lesser of the two evils — but the person that seems the most reasonable.
"There is just so much divisiveness right now in the country. It's sad."
Adams described Lorain County as purple. In 2012, Democrat Barack Obama won 56.78% of the votes here, while Sen. Sherrod Brown earned more than 57% of the vote in 2012 and 59% in 2018.
But since 2012, the county has voted for Republican Donald Trump with some of the closest results in the state — 47.24% compared Hillary Clinton's 47.34% in 2016, and 50.40% against President Joe Biden's 47.96% in 2020.
In 2020, more than 70% of registered voters showed up at the polls, and Adams expects to see at least that by Nov. 5 this year. So far this election, Lorain County has received ballots or mail-in ballot requests from more than 56,100 voters.
"A lot of times, all politics is local, and people are interested in their local issues," Adams explained. "And that helps push turnout even beyond what you see in a presidential election."
Early voters in Lorain also pointed to Ohio Issue 1, the Senate race between Brown and Bernie Moreno, and local school issues as things driving them to the polls.
"We're here trying to make this community better," Bartholomew Gonzalez said, adding that the area issues hit closer to home for him. "Are you going to sit down, or are you going to get up and be part of the change?"