OHIO, USA — It was a busy weekend for campaigns across Ohio with the looming deadline to register to vote.
In order to vote in the presidential election, Ohioans must register at voteohio.gov by Monday night or pick up paperwork at a library or BMV and bring it to the Board of Elections or Secretary of State’s Office by 9 p.m. on Monday.
Jordy Mason, a campaign volunteer with Republican Brian Garvine, has been knocking on the doors of Republican voters in Grove City, encouraging them to register.
“If you’re not registered to vote, do you intend to get registered to vote, then I walk them through how they can find that out and get registered,” he said.
Mason tells his neighbors how important it is to let their voices be heard.
“As we look at the state of our local community and our country, I think there is a great burden I suppose on the shoulders of each citizen to say, 'I am going to stand up and cast my vote for things that are important to me personally','” he said. “For me, I got involved because I didn’t like how things were going and I thought why isn’t nobody doing anything about it and I thought wait I am not doing anything about it.”
Nicholas Glahn, with Ohio State College Democrats, echoes the sentiment of the importance of voting.
“A lot of people, we are excited. This is our first presidential election. We have got Kamala Harris and Tim Walz who very much appeal to Gen Z,” he said.
Glahn, an Ohio State junior, has been helping his fellow students register. College students can vote using their hometown address or campus address, but they can only register once.
“This presidential election is bigger than you could think. We have seen the importance of the Supreme Court and what they have done over the past few years. Whoever is the next president is going to be putting a few justices on the court who are going to affect all of our lives,” Glahn said.
While many people are focused on the top of the ticket, both Glahn and Mason said it is important to look at the entire ballot.
“We want to make sure that people really understand that up and down the ballot these races will affect everything in your life,” Glahn said.
“Presidential elections tend to be our highest turnout elections which is actually really sad because our local issues are actually I think way more important. Your local city government is going to affect you a lot more than your national government,” Mason said.