We The Voters

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​WE THE VOTERS

      According to the Columbus Dispatch, since early voting began on October 6 over 20,000 people have cast their ballots in Franklin County - which comprises metropolitan Columbus - alone.
       Yesterday Tom and I joined their ranks.
      It was around 9:30 am when we climbed into the car for the eight-mile trip to the Franklin County Board of Elections, to where we had decided to hand-carry our absentee ballots.
​      It felt strange climbing into the car together, we hadn't gone out anywhere together in such a long time. Not that we don't run our separate errands these days, me mostly to the supermarket, Tom mostly to Home Depot or the local hardware store to buy supplies for the home improvement projects he's undertaken over this past homebound summer. But we don't go on outings together anymore, which made this outing feel for a moment like the good old days when we used to go places: to the movies, out to lunch or dinner, on a trip.
       And though this trip was none of those, still it was one we'd been anticipating, and on this beautiful, balmy October morning, 

...we couldn't help but feel in good spirits, full of hope, and thankful that Ohio has a relatively sensible, accessible election process. Not perfect, mayhaps, but relatively accessible and sensible.
      For this upcoming election, for example, every registered voter in Ohio was sent an absentee ballot request form.

​    If one wishes to request an absentee ballot, one fills out and returns the application by mail by the October 31 deadline.
      The office of the Ohio Secretary of State began sending out the absentee ballots the first week in October and the ballots can be returned: 1. By mail, and must be postmarked by November 2 and received by the local boards of election by November 13, or 2. In person to the drop box at one's county board of elections by election day, November 3.

 
      The other voting options in Ohio are early in person voting, which began on October 6, at one's county board of elections or, of course, in person on election day at one's precinct polling location. 
        So, in Ohio one has options and plenty of time to vote.
       And here in Ohio, as in other states that offer the option, the early in person voting has taken off like a rocket, as Tom and I witnessed first-hand when we dropped off our ballots at the Franklin County Board of Elections.
         The Franklin County Board of Elections is located in Columbus on Morse Road, a busy six-lane highway that cuts east-west across the northern part of the city. It's located in what used to be a Kohl's department store in a vast, sprawling strip-mall with a vast, sprawling parking lot. 

     Make that a huge parking lot.
​    However, when we arrived around 10 am there was a line on Morse Road to get into the parking lot. That parking lot - that huge parking lot - was all parked up,

...and people were driving up and down the aisles looking for parking spots. We saw people walking across Morse Road, apparently having parked their cars in the strip mall parking lot across the highway from the Board of Elections.
       As for the line to the early voting center, it was long. 

    It was very long.

    It snaked the length of the buildings to the end of the strip mall,

...then around the corner behind the buildings,

...to the end of the buildings ​where there was a fence that divided the parking lot from the street. It appeared that people were beginning to line up along the fence

    The line appeared to be a good quarter mile long. However, we'd hear that the voters were moving along at the rate of 500 per hour and that, despite the crowd of people, the wait wasn't unbearable.
​    As for the ballot drop-box, it was located in a tent in the parking lot and was attended by several workers.

    There were two lanes for traffic with a worker for each lane. We handed our ballots to a worker, who then deposited them into the box,

...a more secure system than having people drop their own ballots. 
     The line for the ballot drop box was not long, and we waited only a few minutes.
​      The real draw the morning we were there was the in-person voting.

    And not only the morning we were there.  In truth, the above pictures were not taken by me - alas, in my excitement and amazement I'd forgotten to snap some shots until we were driving away and here, I'm mortified to admit, is the only image I managed to capture:

     (Sigh). But though the above pictures that I snagged from online are of earlier days, what I described is what we saw yesterday, and these pictures show the same images as we saw yesterday - almost a week after early voting began. And by the way, of the 20,000-plus votes cast in Franklin County as of yesterday, 55% were Democrat, 6% Republican, and 39% unaffiliated. 
      Fingers crossed.         

References:
https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/10/13/franklin-county-early-voters-skyrocket-20-000-biden-airs-new-ads-while-donald-trump-remains-dark/5976859002/

https://www.ohiosos.gov/publications/2020-elections-calendar/