Candidates’ yard signs were once again fighting for real estate in the mulch surrounding the one early voting center for the biggest county in the state Tuesday morning.
By 8 a.m., a single-file line had formed outside the doors. Those soon-to-be voters were ushered in by Franklin County Board of Elections Director Antone White, who was all smiles.
James Brittan, a 71-year-old retiree who lives in South Columbus, was among the earliest of early voters at the board of elections.
“Anybody that says, I’m mad at them, so that’s why I’m not voting? Wait a minute, then you have nothing to say. If you don’t vote, then you have nothing to say one way or the other,” Brittan said. “You got to come out and vote, because that’s your voice. That’s how I look at it.”
Brittan votes early to avoid longer waits every year, he said in an interview Tuesday morning. The center at the Franklin County Board of Elections can get about 800 voters in and out its doors each hour, according to White.
Registered voters are now able to cast ballots at their county boards of elections through Friday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., and on weekdays and some weekend days throughout October into November. Those wanting to vote absentee can request their ballot online.
64-year-old Carol Walker, of Worthington, came out holding a flyer, mulling the possibility of working an Election Day polling location.
“I’m glad that my vote is now banked,” Walker said in an interview.
But she said she’s been urging her family and friends and everybody else to vote early, and to vote, period.
“Really, we all have so much more common than we don’t,” Walker said. “At the end of the day, all Americans, we want to have a democracy, and the only way to have a democracy is to vote.”
Early voting times and locations are listed on the Ohio Secretary of State’s website. The last day to vote early is Sunday, Nov. 3, and Election Day in Ohio is Nov. 3.
