COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse Newsbureau) — What happens when you add to that a historic presidential race, a neck-and-neck race that could determine the future balance of the U.S. Senate, three races at the Ohio Supreme Court that could significantly shift that court’s focus, and a proposed constitutional amendment to remove the US Senate? politicians from the redistribution process? High voter turnout has been the answer so far.

More than 2.5 million voters have already voted early. And Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose said this election could set a record as the highest number of voters in the state’s history.

There is potential for a high turnout in the elections

“I think we’re on track to break the all-time record for high voter turnout on Election Day,” LaRose said. “5.8 (million) was that record attendance in 2020 and that is great news.”

Long lines have been reported at many locations, especially during the two weekends of early voting, as each county has only one location and 61% of early ballots were cast in person. There are more Republican voters who cast early ballots than Democratic voters, even though the vast majority are unaffiliated. That number means 30% of Ohio’s 8.1 million registered voters have already voted. The percentage record was set in 1992 with a turnout of 77%, or 5,043,094 votes.

LaRose said he has specific teams focused on finding and removing misinformation, and legal teams tasked with tackling illegal activity. And he said they are dealing with the usual issues that come up in every general election.

“There can be between 200 and 300 different problems: a power outage, a traffic jam, perhaps a device that malfunctions or a poll worker who doesn’t follow his training. When these things occur, we can quickly assess them, respond and resolve the issue,” LaRose said.

What can you expect on Election Day?

Comments from some local sheriffs have raised concerns among some voters. Clark County Sheriff’s Lt. John Rogers posted on Facebook that he wanted proof of who someone voted for before helping them, and that he wouldn’t help Democrats. And a few weeks ago, the Portage County Board of Elections announced it would not use the sheriff’s department in its security plan after Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski suggested on Facebook that residents should mark addresses with signs for Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris.

When asked if he had any concerns about whether voters would be protected in areas where law enforcement officers have made intimidating comments, LaRose said he thinks they will fulfill their duty to provide voter safety on Election Day.

“That is their responsibility and I have every confidence that they will do that. God forbid that didn’t happen. Then we would work with other law enforcement agencies and, if necessary, with the State Patrol and state partners to ensure that that law is properly enforced at that polling place or board of elections,” LaRose said. “I don’t expect that to happen.”

LaRose said there haven’t been many problems with voters having incorrect identification. He said naturalized citizens must have a permit or ID that reflects their citizenship, or bring their citizenship papers with them to vote. There have been lawsuits over this policy, but LaRose won. Naturalized citizens who go to the polls without this identification will be presented with a provisional ballot before Saturday, November 9, which they can solve with the correct identification.

What to wear to the polls

If you’re thinking about wearing a shirt or hat with your favorite candidate’s name on it, think again. LaRose said anyone who shows up wearing clothing that features a candidate’s name or clothing that urges voters to approve or reject a ballot will be asked to remove the item of clothing. It’s part of a directive LaRose recently passed on to local election boards. But if a voter is wearing such an item and refuses to remove it, that voter will be allowed to cast a ballot and his/her name will be submitted to a BOE official for possible later follow-up.

The election day forecast calls for warm weather. Groups helping voters may be tempted to hand out cold water or pastries to someone in line. LaRose noted that the law states that voters cannot be offered items in exchange for voting for or against a candidate or issue, but it would be fine to offer voters a bottle of water without obligation because that is “an act of human friendliness”.

What can you expect on election night?

Once polls close at 7:30 p.m., LaRose said absentee ballots will be counted immediately.

“We pre-processed absentee ballots as soon as they came in.” What does that mean? That means a bipartisan team has cut open the envelope. They looked at the security envelope to identify the first name, middle name, last name, date of birth, address and the last four of the social driver’s license number, which matched the signatures,” LaRose said. “These bipartisan teams go through that process to prove that that voter is indeed the person they say they are. Then they separate the identity from the ballot.”

LaRose said the ballots will be loaded into machines and counted. But the final results in the presidential race may still be up in the air because votes from other states are counted differently than from Ohio.

Certifying the vote

LaRose said he thinks Ohioans will know the outcome of most races before they go to bed.

The preliminary ballot will be posted before his office staff leaves. As ballots come in, that number will change. And after the first vote, the paper ballots themselves will be counted again to make sure they match the ballots displayed by computers on election night.

About three weeks after the election, LaRose said local election boards will certify the results, send them to his office and he will release the certified totals. There has been a lot of talk about situations in other states where election officials have failed to certify the elections. LaRose said he doesn’t expect that to happen in Ohio. But if that were the case, he said the state has options.

“We could get an order from a judge telling them that they have to do that, that there will be penalties if they don’t do that, that they could be held in contempt,” LaRose said.

LaRose said if there are ties in local races, a coin flip will be used to determine the winner, which has happened before.

The polling stations open at 6:30 am.