OHIO, USA — Poll workers at the Franklin County Board of Elections office quickly and smoothly guide voters to the check-in counters and voting machines, keeping a steady stream of thousands moving.
Board of Elections spokesperson Aaron Sellers said more than 5,200 voters had cast ballots in each of the last four days.
"Obviously as we get within two weeks of election day, those numbers continue to go up," Sellers said.
Among the thousands is Columbus resident Ebony Powell who said she votes in every election.
"Actually, I was bringing my mother's drop-off ballot today, and I looked and there was no line, so I said I might as well just vote," Powell said.
Srikanth Meka is a new U.S. citizen voting for the first time.
"While it's a very proud moment, it's also something that is innately the responsible and the right thing to do," Meka said.
According to the Secretary of State's Office, 1,270,308 Ohioans cast ballots in the first 12 days of early voting. Of those, 573,869 voted by mail. The other 696,439 voted in person.
Broken down by party, 585,789 of the early voters are unaffiliated, 405,760 are Republicans and 274,102 are Democrats.
In Franklin County, 56,878 people have voted early in person. Sellers said that is about 26,000 more than in 2016 over the same 12-day period.
He said presidential elections always have high turnout. Plus, the weather has been great and the process is convenient.
"We've expanded. We've got more machines," Sellers said. "We've refined this and it's been pretty smooth so far."
Voter David Roach, of Columbus, agrees and said he is proud to be an American and happy to vote.
"It makes everything a level playing field. Everyone has a single vote in America."
Another 540,000 Ohioans have requested absentee ballots that have not yet been returned to Board of Elections offices.