More than 31% of Ohioans voted early, but many more headed to the polls on election day to decide some key races. Among them - U.S. President, Senator, U.S. House, Ohio Supreme Court and state legislative races. There's also the statewide Issue 1, which would change the redistricting process to take the map-drawing pen away from politicians and hand it to a panel of citizens.
It’s the first presidential election for Sam Reitz of Delaware County. He said many of his friends are also voting too.
“I think social media plays a big part in that definitely has been publicized a lot, not just the presidential election, but also the Senate and House races as well,” Reitz said.
Also casting a ballot at the Delaware Township Hall just south of the city of Delaware was Lee Ann Davenport. She said she was voting on election day because efforts to vote early were unsuccessful.
“I did try to go vote early. And then when I got there the whole system crashed,” Davenport said. “So here I am on the actual day, and I think it is better on the actual day anyway.”
U.S. Army veteran Gene Aspery said he never thought about voting early. But he said he always votes on election day: “I think you should. I think that's our responsibility.”
Jacob Schwartz showed up at the Whetstone Community Center in Columbus, but not to vote. He was there to exercise. He said he exercised his civic duty to vote this past weekend at the early voting center.
“On Election Day, things could come up that are unforeseen. And so I just wanted to make sure that my vote was counted,” Schwartz said. “I didn't have anything else really to worry about on Saturday.”
Voter Gena Shelton was voting in part because of Ohio's three Supreme Court races.
"I think it matters a whole lot because it's shown, we passed these constitutional amendments and they'll pass legislation contrary to them,” Shelton said, referring to amendments approved by voters in 2015 and 2018 to create the Ohio Redistricting Commission, made up of seven elected officials. Maps approved by the commission were ruled unconstitutional seven times, fueling activists to draft Issue 1, which would scrap the commission and create a 15-member citizens commission.
“And then nothing gets fixed or they will just say, oh, well, throw our hands up. And so what is the point of me as a citizen voting on a constitutional amendment and amending it if there's zero enforcement mechanism for elected officials to follow,” Shelton said. “But that's me. Whether I voted for an amendment or against an amendment - what's in there, it's in there. And there should be accountability to actually enforce a referendum-driven amendment to the Constitution.”
Kate Carter, another Clintonville resident, said she showed up to vote at her local polling place because she likes the camaraderie there. And she said she was voting to try to change the tone of politics.
“People stopped being kind to each other, stopped helping each other, started to be more belligerent," Carter said.
Election protection groups report few problems in election day voting. Jen Miller with the League of Women Voters of Ohio said some scanner problems were reported in Cuyahoga County and some pollbook issues came up in Franklin County, but she added both were resolved within a short period of time. She says some voters have been confused, and some are not aware that they can still access curbside voting at polling locations if they need that service.
Polls close at 7:30pm and anyone in line at that time will be allowed to cast ballots.
