Greater Columbus polling locations see long lines as voters show up on Election Day

Shortly after Schiller Community Center in Columbus' German Village opened for voting at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, lines of people snaked around the recreation center's gym three times before trailing off outside.

It was a busy day at the polls, but voting location manager Paul Khoury said the long wait didn't seem to sour voters.

"We haven't had any serious kvetching," he said. "People have been very gracious and understanding."

Describing turnout as "insanely great," Khoury said he was surprised to see so many voters show up on Election Day. He thought more people might have taken advantage of advance voting through absentee ballots or early in-person voting in the first midterm election since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Lines at the center, located at 1069 Jaeger St., began to dissipate by 12:30 p.m. or so. But they were so long early at the polling location that poll workers began allowing more registered voters to fill out paper ballots instead of using machines. Khoury speculated that a lengthy midterm election ballot may have been part of the cause for the long lines.

Indeed, there were plenty of races to decide on this election cycle, including U.S. Senate, Ohio governor, attorney general and a host of other state offices, and Columbus bond and other local and school issues.

Incumbent Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine was running for reelection against former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, and U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan was running against author and entrepreneur J.D. Vance in the U.S. Senate race in two of the biggest contested races of the day. For complete election results, go to Dispatch.com.

The ballot made for a lot of choices and some long lines throughout the Columbus area.

At Life City Church in Pickerington, a poll worker described it as the busiest election day she's seen in five years, and another added that there was already a line outside of the church at 6 a.m.

The line stretched out the door Tuesday morning at Columbus Mennonite Church in Clintonville as people waited to cast their ballots. Lines at the time were estimated to be 45 minutes to an hour long.

Franklin County Board of Elections: Not surprised by long lines

Aaron Sellers, public information officer for the Franklin County Board of Elections, said he was not surprised by reports of long lines due to the ballot having races and issues that interested many people.

"This is a general election, it's a gubernatorial race, there's a Senate race," he said. "There are many things on the ballot that people are interested in and there may be lines from time to time. We would like it to be as small as possible, but it depends on the time of day."

Sellers said Tuesday that the Board of Elections does not have the ability to check how many people had voted so far.

He said there are about 879,000 registered voters in the county and 309 polling locations. The goal was to have 5,000 poll workers, but Sellers said he did not have a total for how many workers ultimately were secured.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced Monday that Ohio voters set a record this year for advance voting in a nonpresidential election year.

More than 1.55 million Ohioans either voted early in-person or requested a mail-in absentee ballot for this election. "This is an increase of 3.9% over the previous record set in 2018," according to the Secretary of State's office.

Polling locations stay busy across Franklin County

In Worthington, campaign signs lined the sidewalks in front of the Worthington United Methodist Church as cars pulled into the parking lot during the lunch hour. Just after noon, the line at that polling location moved steadily, but still took about 30 minutes.

Standing outside the busy Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral in downtown Columbus shortly before 9 a.m., Shirley Cerimele said she had long supported Democratic candidates, but decided to vote straight Republican Tuesday. She believes her extended Italian family did the same.

Cerimele, 49, explained her choice to change parties by saying she feels as if the U.S. Constitution is being attacked and that her tax dollars aren’t being spent correctly.

A Downtown resident of six years, Cerimele also said she no longer feels safe in the area.

“I almost bought a puppy last night, but I changed my mind because I have a fear of walking outside my door. I’ve lived Downtown for a while, and I never felt like that before.”

Two and a half miles due north at Dwell Community Church along Fourth Street in the city's University District, 21-year-old Brian Waligura also cited crime as a concern.

But the fourth-year theatre and biology student at Ohio State University said Republicans, not Democrats, are making communities less safe, citing Gov. Mike DeWine’s decision to sign a bill in March that lets Ohio residents 21 and older conceal firearms they are legally allowed to own without training or permits.

“That’s scary for me as a student,” Waligura said in the parking lot of the nondenominational church, where voting was steady just before 10 a.m. “I live off campus, where I hear gunshots. Not even three days ago, there was a shooting that happened on the street across from me.”

Dispatch reporters Bill Bush, Max Filby and Monroe Trombly and assistant sports editor Lori Schmidt contributed to this report.

mwalker@dispatch.com

@micah_walker701

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus polls see long lines as voters show up on Election Day