MOUNT VERNON — On the last day of early voting for the Nov. 5 General Election, the line at the Knox County Board of Elections stretched to Sugar Street.
Early voting ended at 5 p.m. on Sunday. The last person voted around 6 p.m.
Mount Vernon resident Emily McConville had already waited an hour to vote and had about another 20 minutes to go.
She said it is worth it.
“I feel like this year is one of the most important years for voting and for everybody to be heard,” she said. “I think it’s important for everybody to come out and vote.”
It was the first time McConville voted early.
“I was pretty sure the polls were going to be crazy on Tuesday, so I decided to come out today,” she said. “I think they’re just as bad today, but at least I have time.
“And it’s not 6 a.m.,” she added.
A Fredericktown mother and daughter, who were much closer to Sugar Street than the entrance to the Board of Elections, took their turns waiting.
The daughter, a first-time voter, said she felt it was very important to vote this election.
“I definitely don’t want to come next week. Even though it’s busy right now, I feel like it’s going to be a lot busier here on Tuesday,” she said.
Her mom had better luck when she voted.
“I came here a week ago Tuesday and just walked right in,” she said.
“It was my first time early voting because I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t going to be any complication on that day or any system glitches or anything like that. I wanted to get it done. That way your vote counts; just making sure.”
Early voting sparks no incidents
The Ohio Secretary of State’s office reports 12,125 citizens voted early in Knox County.
Another 5,389 citizens requested a mail-in ballot. Of those, 4,716 returned their ballot as of Sunday night.
Knox County shows an 88% ballot return rate between early and absentee voting.
BOE Director James Blazer said the target is in the 90s.
“We set a couple of records in the process of early voting,” Blazer said. “Friday was an all-time high with 863 voting. On Oct. 29, we had 758, which was a record at that time.”
Blazer said the BOE experienced no incidents during early voting.
“Everyone was nice and courteous. We had a few issues with campaign paraphernalia, but they were easily resolved.”
On Sunday at 5 p.m., quite a few were still in line to vote. Blazer took his place at the end of the line and turned a few voters away who arrived after 5. They will vote at their precincts.
First-time early voter Marian Douglas of Danville took her turn waiting in line.
“Tuesday is usually crazy, so we’re just trying to make sure we get it done,” she said.
“My husband and I usually come together, but we just didn’t make it together. He came earlier. I thought today would be a good day to come because I didn’t think anybody would be here.”
Another woman stood for 15 minutes and estimated she had another 20 minutes to wait. That was a bit optimistic considering voters in line ahead of her waited about an hour.
“I just came to vote before Tuesday,” she said. “I had plans of getting here a lot earlier, but I just haven’t made it.
A previous early voter, she said she did not have any specific reason to vote early.
“I just didn’t want to come Tuesday. I figured the lines would be longer then. And here I am,” she said with a chuckle.
The polls open at 6:30 a.m. on Nov. 5.
