COLUMBUS, Ohio — It’s the Sunday before Election day and voters came out in droves to make their voice count.
“We've had about 43,000 who have come here through yesterday and we probably expect about 4,000 today,” says Aaron Sellers, spokesperson for the Franklin County Board of Elections.
As the music plays and people wrap around the board of elections building, there is a common theme among residents – patriotism.
“You can vote for anybody, but it's more important that you actually go out there and vote because that's your power, and when you use it, you use it well,” said Columbus resident Adeyaemi Fotoba.
People of all generations came out to cast their ballot early, many saying it was an opportunity to place their vote since they were unavailable on Tuesday.
“I'm going to be working as a poll worker on Tuesday and I'm not going to be in my district in my precinct so I have to vote now,” says Dublin resident Carolyn Summerich. “I think it's important to be - I think they needed what 40 thousand poll workers? So that's a lot of people, so somebody's gotta volunteer!”
Other people came out to vote for the first time, waiting in line 45 minutes to an hour including
Columbus residents Don West and Winter Shyrigh, who served as poll workers in the 2020 elections.
"I feel like not a lot of people in our generation really care about politics and the future of our country like we should and I think it's just real important to be involved,” says Shyrigh.
Monday is the last day of early voting in person at the board of elections from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
If you haven’t already placed your vote, the board recommends checking the Franklin County Board of Elections website to familiarize yourself with the ballot language, especially on lengthy items like charter amendments and bond issues.
"If you haven't voted, it's your civic duty, and if you're registered, please go vote, there's ample opportunity. There's still time to do it in-person or you can do it on election day,” Sellers said.
Sellers says all absentee voters need to have their ballot in the mail, postmarked by Monday to be counted in the certified results.
“If you get your ballot tomorrow and you don't have time and you want to get it into us, you can't take that ballot to your voting location on election day, it has to come back to our office on Morse Road, so as long as we get that by Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m., we can count that ballot."
Polls will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday and all registered voters should go to their assigned voting location.