The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
VOTERS TURN OUT EARLY
Northeast Ohio residents cast their ballots for Nov. 6 midterm
The convenience is something Donna Washington couldn’t ignore.
For the second time, the Mentor-on-the-Lake resident decided to head to the Lake County Board of Elections in Painesville to vote.
Being that Oct. 24 was her day off, Washington decided to cast her ballot early.
“The lines aren’t ever bad at my polling station, but I just wanted to come out so nothing
interferes, just in case something comes up on Nov. 6,” she said.
Of the 158,701 registered voters in Lake County, Washington is one of 28,380 who have chosen either to vote early or have a ballot mailed to them.
Ross McDonald, director of Lake County Board of Elections, said the absentee voting period has been increasing in popularity election by election.
“The lines aren’t ever bad at my polling station, but I just wanted to come out so nothing interferes, just in case something comes up on Nov. 6.” — Mentor-on-the-Lake resident Donna Washington
“As (election) officials, we really do like early voting because it does remove a bit of the strain on our Election Day process and at our polling locations, and it’s been very steady this year. Showing up early, it’s like your own private voting session. Going into this election, we’re projecting that about one-third of the overall turnout will have already voted.”
The board’s deputy director, Jan Clair, confirmed
that early voting has been available in Lake County since 2008, and added the 2018 Midterm Election has already registered one of the biggest turnouts to date.
“We’re competing more with the presidential (race) than we are with the governor’s,” Clair said. “If we were ranking, we’d be a little lower than a presidential election, but we’re definitely exceeding the gubernatorial, so it’s kind of exciting. It’s a busy time, but we’re all keeping afloat.”
In anticipation of a large early response, the Board
of Elections has reserved parking spaces for voters in the back guest lot of the administration building, on Main Street and on Painesville Square.
The last day to vote early is Nov. 5 by 2 p.m.
As queues of voters streamed quickly in and out of the building, McDonald expressed gratitude to the entire staff, which includes seasonal workers.
“They’re the ones on the front lines activating the ballots for the early voters and taking the phone calls and getting information out to the public,” he said. “They do a great job.”