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There’s no excuse for not voting this year
Vote early and vote often.
Well, at least voters in Ohio can vote early; very early.
Election Day is a month away, but Ohioans have been able to vote at their county board of elections since Tuesday. Also, those who’ve requested absentee ballots by mail should start getting them at their homes shortly.
There’s still plenty of time to request the ballots by mail as well as vote at election board offices.
Since the 2006 election, Ohioans have been able to vote early without providing a reason, such as being out of town on Election Day or being too ill or elderly to cast ballots at polling locations.
Though 2006 was a big election year in Ohio — every statewide executive elected position was on the ballot — it pales in comparison to this election in which we’ll elect a president.
Positive development
While there are some drawbacks to permitting early voting, the positives outweigh the negatives.
But one thing is clear — early voting changes elections.
The presidential candidates have aired campaign commercials on local television stations for months, but it’s really picked up in the past few days because of early voting.
The campaigns are organizing early-voting efforts including driving people to election board offices. The efforts have yet to have a major impact at this point.
There was talk of hundreds of people waiting outside local election board offices when early voting began Tuesday morning.
But no one was waiting to vote when the board offices in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana opened that morning.
To those who’ve already voted, there’s no turning back.
No changes
Regardless of what is said at the debates or the latest flip-flop or contradiction on an important issue, those who’ve voted can’t change their ballots.
It’s doubtful, though not impossible, that something could happen between now and Nov. 4 that would make people who’ve already voted regret their decisions. You’re typically not going to vote a month before Election Day if you’re on the fence about candidates.
Most people polled say they’ve already decided who they’ll support in the presidential election even though those same polls show small percentage changes for the candidates.
Presidential elections make every other race on the ballot an afterthought for many.
There are important races including state attorney general, two seats on the Ohio Supreme Court as well as U.S. Congress, the entire Ohio House, 16 Ohio Senate seats and numerous county positions.
To be fair, many of those races fly under the radar of those who vote early and those who go to the polls on Election Day.
I prefer voting at my polling location.
I enjoy walking the gauntlet of supporters of candidates standing outside doing some last-minute “bribing” by offering a piece of candy to vote for someone. If you go to your county board of elections, you still have supporters outside, but usually without candy.
As I head into my polling location, I wonder if there will be a line and if my touch-screen voting machine will work without me having to push real hard to have my votes register.
Great atmosphere
I enjoy the atmosphere of that big room filled with neighbors, most of whom I don’t know.
I’m interested in seeing if poll workers can find my name in the giant book of voters.
I’m curious what number voter I am in my precinct.
I like to get my “I voted today” sticker and sometimes a pencil.
You can have a similar experience at the board of elections.
But, to me, it wouldn’t be the same.