COLUMBUS, Ohio — Thousands of Franklin County residents made their way to the Board of Elections Sunday afternoon to cast their votes. The line to get in wrapped around the building for most of the day. Some of the voters said they had been waiting at least an hour just to get inside.
"It's just been consistently long lines all the way around the building,” said Doris McCrary, a Franklin County resident.
"I didn't get here ‘til like 4 p.m., so I kind of expected it to be about like that,” said Alissa Gates, another Franklin County resident.
The issues on the ballot seemed to be the biggest driving force in getting voters to the polls.
"Issue 1 is my big one today,” Gates said.
Issue 1 has to do with reproductive rights. Ohio voters will decide whether to enshrine reproductive rights in the state constitution.
Issue 2 could create a new law to legalize recreational marijuana in the state.
"Obviously Issue 1 and 2 have garnered a lot of interest and I'm sure that's why there's more people out voting,” said Aaron Sellers, the Franklin County Board of Elections public information officer.
Sellers said about 46,000 Franklin County residents voted in the August election, and early voting this time around has already surpassed that number.
"Generally, the elections are in the sometimes 20-30 percentile, so we'll certainly be over that for this cycle,” Sellers said.
The polls are closed on Monday and will open back up on Tuesday from 6:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.